50 Most Valuable Coins in the World

Coin collecting goes back to medieval Mesopotamia. Because of this long history, many people expect older coins to have more value. This isn’t the case. For example, even though the United States is young among nations, its coinage is in high demand and often more valuable than coins from places like ancient Greece. 

So, which coins from around the world are the most valuable? These 50 have sold for the highest prices. Several were at one point able to boast that they fetched “the highest price ever paid for a coin of its kind.”

Combined, these valuable coins are worth $125 million.

Sold at auction: $687,500

There were 17,796 of these $5 coins minted in 1822, yet only three are known to exist today. (Most were melted down after the reduction of gold content in coins in 1834.) There is nothing particularly special about this coin. There are no errors. It was not a commemorative coin. It was struck as regular currency. 

Its rarity makes it valuable (like many of the most valuable collectibles). Unlike other desirable coins needed to complete a series collection (one coin representing each year of a design), the Mint did not produce restrikes of this coin. Two reside at the Smithsonian. This one, known as the Eliasberg specimen, is said to be the finest of the three. 

Experts believe today’s value is in the millions and would likely break all sale records. The $687,500 sale took place in 1982.

Sold at auction: $705,000

The Liberty Cap cent was inspired by Dupre’s Libertas Americana medal of 1783 and was produced from 1793 to 1796. A variety of portrait styles were produced during these years, with a total of 69 die marriages (combinations of head and tail side dies).

Liberty Cap coins produced in 1796 were struck from six different obverse (head side) dies before the motif was changed to the Draped Bust of Liberty design mid-year. 

While many of the 109,825 coins minted still exist, few are of high quality. This gem state coin is the finest surviving example.

Sold at auction: $763,750

Construction on the San Francisco Mint was completed in May 1870, and items placed in the cornerstone time capsule included a full set of U.S. coins dated 1870.

There’s no Mint record of dollars produced at the San Francisco Mint that year, leading experts to presume those that exist were struck as mementos. It is believed that 12 of these coins were made, and the whereabouts of only nine are known (plus one presumably in the cornerstone of the Mint). Only two are uncirculated.

Sold at auction: $763,750

It is believed that the 1838-O half dollar is the first branch mint proof coin of any denomination, yet there’s no official record it even exists. The New Orleans Mint struck its first coins in May of 1838, a small number of dimes, but the coin press broke down and production was suspended until July. The yellow fever epidemic then closed the Mint from August through November. 

These delays resulted in only dimes being produced in New Orleans that year. It’s theorized that up to 20 samples of the half dollar were struck at the New Orleans Mint early in 1839 using the prior year dies to test the coin press. There are nine specimens of this coin known to exist, in various grades; this one is one of the finest.