Auction Of Rare 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin Nets $3 Million-Plus For U.S. Government
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Treasury to Receive Nearly Half of Record $7.6 Million Sale
 
Washington, D.C., August 2, 2002 – The United States Mint announced
today that Tuesday’s sale of the much-publicized 1933 Double Eagle gold
coin will generate more than $3 million for the United States Treasury.
The coin, auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York City during the American
Numismatic Association annual convention, sold for $6.6 million to an
anonymous bidder. An additional 15 percent auction fee brought the sales
price to $7.59 million and an additional $20 was needed to “monetize”
the face value of the coin so it would be legal to own, bringing the final
sales price to $7,590,020. It is believed to be the most ever paid for a
coin at auction.
“We are very pleased with the sale,” said Henrietta Holsman Fore,
Director of the United States Mint. “This coin, once worth only $20,
should reinforce the notion that there is tremendous value in coin
collecting. It is not only a fun hobby that everyone can do but a
profitable one, too.”
Once the sale is finalized, the United States Mint’s Public
Enterprise Fund (PEF) will receive the entire amount. The PEF will then
disburse a portion to Sotheby's to pay for the services it rendered to the
United States Mint in marketing and auctioning the coin. The PEF also will
deduct the United States Mint's expenses in administering the contract and
protecting the coin, and then will retain half the proceeds under an
out-of-court settlement – expected to be slightly more than $3 million,
which will be transferred to the United States Treasury as a miscellaneous
receipt.
Though it will be several weeks before the United States Mint can
determine the exact earnings to the Nation’s taxpayers from this
historic sale, the coin is the most expensive and profitable numismatic
product that the United States Mint has ever sold.
The 1933 Double Eagle features a liberty figure reminiscent of a Greek
goddess, known as “Walking Liberty,” designed by famed sculptor
Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The other side features a majestic eagle.
About the 1933 Double Eagle
The United States Mint has struck gold coins in various denominations
since 1795. The first $20 Double Eagle coin was minted in 1849. After the
1933 Double Eagle was struck, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the
United States off the gold standard. The newly-minted but un-issued gold
coins were destroyed because they were not legal tender.
The recently-auctioned coin is one of only a few 1933 Double Eagles to
have survived destruction. Two were given to the Smithsonian Institution
for historic safekeeping. Several others – all of which were stolen –
were believed to be either spirited away or smuggled out of the United
States. One of these coins reappeared in 1996 when British coin dealer
Stephen Fenton tried selling it to undercover Secret Service agents in New
York. An out-of-court settlement between the Justice Department and Mr.
Fenton in 2001 set the stage for the auction.
Contact: Michael White (202) 354-7222, U.S. Mint
Website: www.usmint.gov |
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