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Gold Coin Fetches $7.6 Million at Auction July 31, 2002 By GLENN COLLINS The 1933 double eagle, a $20 gold piece with a mysterious history that involves a president, a king and a Secret Service sting operation, was auctioned last night for a record price for a coin, $7.59 million, nearly double the previous record. The anonymous buyer, believed to be an individual collector who lives in the United States, made the winning bid in a fiercely contested nine-minute auction at Sotheby's in Manhattan. Eight bidders were joined by 500 coin collectors and dealers in an auction-house audience seemingly devoid of celebrity bidders, while an additional 534 observers followed the bidding on eBay. As auction houses prepare for their fall seasons in an uncertain economy, the sale price "suggests that the marketplace for important items is enormously strong," said David Redden, a vice chairman at Sotheby's, who was the auctioneer. "This is an astonishing new record for a coin," he said. In an unprecedented move, the auction proceeds were split by the United States Mint and a London coin dealer, Stephen Fenton, who had won that right in court after having been arrested by Secret Service agents for trying to sell the coin in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan in 1996. Henrietta Holsman Fore, the director of the United States Mint, who witnessed the sale, said that "the moneys we receive will go toward helping to pay down the debt and to fight the war on terrorism." Mr. Fenton commented that the double eagle had been on "a long historic journey, with a very satisfying ending." He added, "I am thrilled with the price." The previous numismatic record holder was an 1804 United States silver dollar, which sold for $4.14 million in 1999. Sotheby's partner in the one-lot auction was Stack's Rare Coins, with which it shared the customary 15 percent commission. "I have never seen as much interest in the sale of any coin in my 30 years in the business," said Lawrence R. Stack, the company's managing director. "This is the Mona Lisa of coins," said Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World, the largest weekly coin publication, with a circulation of 85,000. "It is unique. Forbidden fruit." Collectors' Web sites have seethed with speculation about the sale price, and enthusiasts even organized betting pools. Last night, Mr. Redden took the podium for nine minutes before the gavel came down, recognizing bidders in the audience and on the telephone. The tension in the crowd was broken with a burst of applause after the $5 million mark, and a louder explosion at $6 million. The rumor in the crowd had been that "anything under $6 million would be a bargain," said Ute Wartenberg, executive director of the American Numismatic Society in Manhattan. Most bidders dropped out after that price. The gavel sounded at $6.6 million after a Sotheby's senior vice president, Selby Kiffer, made the final bid for the anonymous buyer on the telephone. The sale price of $6.6 million, when added to the commission, totaled $7.59 million. The auction attendance was swelled by coin collectors who had gathered on the eve of the American Numismatic Association Convention, the largest coin show of the year, expected to draw more than 10,000 people to the Marriott Marquis Hotel today. "So the auction was almost like the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the convention," Mr. Stack said. Ms. Fore of the mint said the high price for the coin was reached "because it is one of a kind, it is beautiful and it has a great story." The coin was the only 1933 double eagle that has ever been legally offered for sale, and its Maltese Falconesque history only recently came to light, thanks to documents unearthed during the five-year legal battle over its ownership. In 1792, it was deemed that all gold and silver United States coins would bear the depiction of an eagle, but gold pieces were issued only after the Gold Rush boom, in 1850. They were called double eagles because their face value was twice that of the original $10 gold piece. Following the suggestion of President Theodore Roosevelt, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens redesigned the coin in 1907 in high-relief, forever after giving the coins the designation "saints." But in 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard, and ordered all the 1933 saints already manufactured destroyed, save for two reserved for the Smithsonian Institution. They were never declared legal currency. But presumably after being stolen by a mint employee, nine double eagles surfaced during the mid-1940's and 1950's. They were seized by the Secret Service and melted down. But before these coins came to light, the royal legation of Egypt turned up with one at the Department of the Treasury, and somehow got an official to issue an export license for the coin to enhance the collection of King Farouk. By the time that blunder was discovered, the coin had left the United States. In 1954, after the king was deposed, his coins were sold at auction and the double eagle vanished. It went underground until it came to Mr. Fenton in 1995. His arrest in Manhattan, after attempting to sell the coin for $1.5 million, led to a court battle over whether - thanks to the Treasury's mistaken export permission in 1944 - the coin could be legally owned. The double eagle came close to being melted down many times. The coin once again escaped destruction when it was moved from the Treasury Department vault in 7 World Trade Center eight months before the building collapsed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Ms. Deisher said the only comparable episode of coin frenzy in recent memory was the 1999 auction, for $4.14 million, of an 1804 silver dollar, the finest of only 15 known to exist. "But the double eagle is fascinating because of all the history and the intrigue," Ms. Deisher said. "And it is unprecedented that the United States government is vouching for its authenticity." The mint studied the coin microscopically, matched it with one of the original dies used to strike it and certified its genuineness. The record price was seen as a gift by coin collectors. "Many people believe that our great coin rarities are vastly undervalued in comparison to old master paintings," Ms. Deisher said. In a ceremony after the sale, Ms. Fore of the mint declared the coin the only 1933 double eagle ever to be legally issued by the United States government. This "monetized" the coin, making it legal tender. The buyer will receive a certificate of transfer stating just that, but only after paying the auction price and a fee of $20 for the face value of the coin. That made the sale price actually $7,590,020. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/31/nyregion/31COIN.html?ex=1029117198&ei=1&en=981f2f10a389a429 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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