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General Veers
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May 21, 2010
World's most expensive coin
LOS ANGELES - WHAT may be America's oldest silver dollar has become the world's most expensive coin, with its owner saying it changed hands in a private transaction between coin collectors for nearly US$8 million.
Steven L. Contursi, who has owned the mint-condition 1794 Liberty dollar for the past seven years, confirmed on Thursday he has sold it to the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation of Sunnyvale for US$7.85 million (S$11.06 million).
The previous record price paid for a coin was US$7.5 million for a US-minted 1933 US$20 gold piece, according to the American Numismatic Association.
Numismatics expert say the 1794 coin, if not the first US silver dollar ever minted, is clearly the first of the approximately 150 still in existence. -- AP
