A prototype of the first U.S. silver dollar went up for auction on Friday in Dallas, and the item’s auction house expects it to sell for up to $500,000.
The copper object, dubbed the “No Stars Flowing Hair Dollar” and dated to 1794, is similar to the silver dollars that were later minted in Philadelphia, but the prototype is missing the stars of those coins.
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“While subsequent dollar coins struck featuring stars were added to the front of the coin, starless coins are considered by collectors and institutions as one-of-a-kind prototypes for the silver examples that would follow,” Jacob Lipson of Heritage Auctions told the Associated Press. “Coin collecting lore states the unique rarity was excavated from the site of the first Philadelphia Mint before 1876.”
The coin was previously owned by businessman and Texas Rangers co-chairman Bob Simpson.
“I think coins should be appreciated almost as artwork,” he said. “I have gotten more than enough joy from them.”
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While Simpson didn’t grow up wealthy, he started coin collecting as a young boy by getting a roll of coins from the bank and examining them, he said.
“America is the only place I think where you can travel from near poverty to wealth based on education,” he said.
