Oldest Coin In The World
NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details.
Oldest Coin In The World Price
You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites.
First Gold Coin In The World
Oldest Coin In The World Price
Last year was certainly an eventful one for gold markets the world over – even for collectible coins. In August, Austin Rare Coins and Bullion (ACBI) announced that it finalized the sale of one of the rarest and oldest gold coins in the world to a private collector.
The coin in question was minted circa 650-600 BCE in the country of Ionia – which is now modern-day Turkey. This age and origin indicates it was among the very first coinage ever struck by humankind. Maintained in astonishing Almost Uncirculated (AU) condition, the coin is a 14.41g of electrum (a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver) stamped into an imperfect circle and marked with striations on the face. These striations are thought to represent a river – which would have been the most likely source of the electrum for the time.
Oldest Coin In The World Value
- A collector who purchased a rare U.S. 'quint' in 2013 says he has proof that it is the first coin ever minted in the United States, dating to 1783. And experts think he could be right.
- Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for WORLD'S OLDEST COINS! LYDIA Alyattes 610-560 BC 1/12 Stater Rare Ancient Gold at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
- The earliest dated coin is a Samian silver tetradrachm struck in Zankle (now Messina), Sicily, dated year 1, viz 494 BC - shown as the letter 'A' on one side. The earliest Christian Era dated coin is: MCCXXXIIII (1234) Bishop of Roskilde coins, Denmark (six known).
Only five Liberty Head coins are known to be in existence, with two displayed in a museum and the other three remaining in the hands of private collectors. In 2010, a collector bought one of the five coins in an auction for $3.7 million. The coin is now said to be worth around $4.5 million. 2007 Queen Elizabeth II Million Dollar Coin - $4.
First Coin In The World
Even more fascinating, this Ionian “Striated” Stater is part of a set of six. Ionian Stater coins were struck in different sizes according to their value, ranging from a 1/24 Stater to a Full Stater. Being among the first coins ever minted and circulated, all six versions of the coins are extremely rare. According to ACBI, the Full Stater they sold was the final piece that enabled the anonymous buyer to complete an entire set of Ionian Striated Staters – making it the third complete set believed to exist in the world today!