1776 continental dollar bought at flea market for 56 cents revealed to be worth $100K
A RARE 1776 continental dollar bought at a French flea market for 56 cents is now worth a stunning $100,000.
The anonymous buyer picked up the rare coin in June 2018, thinking it was just a piece of junk, but it turned out the coin was a rare treasure printed in the year of American independence.
The rare Continental dollar coin was made in 1776, the year that the US became an independent nation.
The design may have been created by Benjamin Franklin, and made to celebrate the birth of America.
But some also claim claim it may have been made by the British to make fun of the currency of the newly formed US.
The buyer, apparently from Northern France, only found out that the coin was rare when he Googled ‘Continental Currency’ and ‘1776’, FOX reports.
He later took the coin to a local coin dealer, who advised he to send it to the US for authentication.
The Professional Coin Grading Services (PCGS), who put a value of $97,500 on the coin, said it is “highly treasured and not often seen.”
The coin is famous for its design of three rings.
The center ring has sundial, with the rays of the sun and text below the dial reading the words ‘MIND YOUR BUSINESS.
The next ring shows “FUGIO” and the sun, and the last reads “CONTINENTAL CURRENCY.”
Despite its heritage, the dollar’s history is still not completely clear.
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In recent years some have said that the coins were actually medals, made as satire by England – struck in pewter to mock the ‘worthless’ value of the currency of the United States.”
Some argue that the first US coin wasn’t established until 1792, after financier Robert Morris was appointed by Congress to superintendent of finance of the United States, according to Politico.
Rare coins often sell for serious money, with one half-dollar coin from 1838 selling for $504,000 last year.
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