Share The Rarest Coin/Coins In Your Collection.

I sold this one in October, but it will probably be the rarest variety coin I will ever have owned. It was graded MS-67 by PCGS. It sold at Heritage for $4200.

Click the photo for a large image

I can throw in this coin from about the same period.


This livre d'argent from 1720 may not be the rarest in terms of mintage, but it is very rare in terms of alloy: It is 100 % silver, and it is - to my knowledge - the only French coin ever made in pure silver. French silver coins at this time were typically 91.7 % silver, medieval coins were at most (but rarely) at 95.8 %, while post revolution silver coins are 90 %. Certain commemorative euro coins are 95 % silver. There is a good reason for that, and that is that pure silver is a bit too soft to make durable money out of. Add a little copper, and all the silver shinyness is still there but the coin lasts much longer.

So how come this oddity suddenly pops up in 1720, without precedent and without successors? I have found no documented explanation for the unique silver content, but 1720 and the preceding years saw a financial chaos in France with wildly fluctuating values of money, forced introduction of bank notes, and speculation in colonial shares. The livre d'argent was intended to be one of few coins complementing a paper money based system, and perhaps the high purity was intended to make it seem more attractive than all the existing coins that were to be taken out of circulation?

All this happened under the control of John Law, the capable Scotsman who managed to charm his way into the French royal court with promises of eliminating the huge French national debt caused by the many and long wars, through an elaborate scheme including government bonds and shares in economic ventures - and bank notes instead of gold and silver coins. It all seemed to work out great in the beginning, but in the end - which happened in 1720, only a few months after minting of the livre d'argent had commenced - it all crashed. You can of course read all about that - and the connection with the Mississippi Company, the failed attempt at exploring the French colonies in North America - on the Internet.

So this little coin - it is 21 mm and weighs 3.7 grams - carries a lot of history!

My avatar coin is maybe rare in the world of numismatics generally.
But not all that rare in ancient Greek numismatics.

Lots of political tokens are R7 to R8 or even R9, but there may be only 2-3 collectors of it. So if there are 4 of them available, the price stays low.

I'd have to give the nod to my 1799 Half Eagle. PCGS has graded 86 in all grades/varieties, and NGC has graded 89, for a total of 175. Variety-wise, this is the much scarcer "Large Stars Reverse" variety. PCGS discerns between the "Large" & "Small" star varieties, having graded 60 "Small" and 26 "Large" stars.

Original mintage: 7,451


ET

Beautiful examples.

Very nice!