Yahoo Finance Rare coin bought for $10 sells for price of Ferrari
An expert said there’s money to be made in coins, and the results of this auction prove he’s not wrong.
A rare coin bought for a humble $10 has been sold for a staggering $250,000.
Coin expert Jim Noble told Yahoo Finance he thought the 19th century Chinese silver coin would sell for about $60,000. But a Sydney collector has blown that out of the water and will pay $250,100 for the silver coin that survived being melted down in 1889.
The mint realised they’d made an error when the silver they forged the coins with was found to be too heavy, so the valuable metal was worth more than the coin’s denomination.
The coin was found in a filing cabinet belonging to Sydney collector Barry Scott who, Noble said, bought the coin for next to nothing.
“These cost very little in the old days and now they are going to make a lot of money,” he said before the auction.
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It went under the hammer for $130,000 but the buyer will pay $250,100 once Noble’s fee is added.
For context, you can buy a brand new Ferrari Roma Spider from $247,310.
Noble fielded calls from China to get the coin up on video stream to check its condition, but it will remain in Australia with the Sydneysider.
A buyer also paid more than $150,000 for a holey dollar at Noble’s auction earlier in the week.
“There’s money to make in coins if you take the right advice,” Noble said.
And it looks like there's some coin enthusiasts trying to make an investment for the future, with a line up outside the door of the Royal Australian Mint to get their hands on a new 50 cent coin commemorating the late Queen Elizabeth II.
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