1,800 Rare U.S. Coins Sell for $23M in NYC Auction

Nearly 2,000 rare American coins amassed over 90 years by a 102-year-old Missouri collector have sold for $23 million at a two-day New York City auction.

Heritage Auctions Co-Chairman Jim Halperin says Sunday that retired St. Louis lawyer Eric P. Newman began collecting in the 1930s, only paying about $7,500 for the 1,800 piece collection.

Halperin says a 1795 U.S. silver dollar in almost pristine condition sold for $910,625 and another one from 1799 sold for $822,500 in the online and in-person auction.

He says a rare quarter-dollar from 1796, the first year the denomination was produced by the U.S. Mint, sold for $1,527,500. He says Newman paid only $100 for it.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward supporting the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society in Missouri.