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http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/..._5640527.jpg[/img=lrft]TALLAHASSEE — Phyllis Childers believed the 1907 rare $20 gold coin that has been in her family for nearly a century was gone for good after her mother died seven years ago without telling anyone where it was.
But this morning, the Lake Worth woman was reunited with one of the rarest coins in the country, valued between $50,000 and $90,000, thanks to state officials charged with returning unclaimed property to its rightful owners.
The 1907 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle 'High Relief' $20 gold coin is one of the five most coveted coins in the country. Its estimated worth is between $25,000 and $90,000.
It took nearly a year for Childers to track down the coin, a beautiful ``high relief" piece designed by famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens at the request of Teddy Roosevelt.
Childers, a petite woman who drove to the Capital with her son on Wednesday and planned to head back to Lake Worth as soon as the transaction was completed, grew tearful and trembled as Rick Sweet, a bureau chief in the Department of Financial Services Bureau of Unclaimed Property, placed the heavy coin in her hand.
"Oh gosh. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Excuse me. I'm speechless. That's it," said Childers.
Childers said her mother, Tere Claiborne, stashed the coin in a Lake Worth bank safety deposit on her way to a bridge game years ago for safe keeping and forgot to tell family members where she put it. When Claiborne died in 2000, the family figured the valuable heirloom was lost forever.
But Childers and her brother tracked down the coin on the fltreasurehunt.org website.
The coin may be the most valuable item returned by the Department of Financial Services to date, said Sweet.
About five years ago, a carat diamond ring appraised at $75,000 was claimed, he said.
Posted 07/26/2007 5:53 pm
