Look and you shall find - Turning €0.50 into $100,000

What are the chances of discovering a hidden treasure in your local "carboot" sale?? Well going by a recent find in France, those hidden gems are still out there just waiting to be discovered.

A chance purchase from a "junk box" full of scrap coins, at a French flea market, has left one coin collector almost $100,000 better off. The lucky buyer picked up a rare 1776 Continental dollar, back in June of 2018. Paying just 56 cents on an off chance, the coin has now been valued in the range of $97,500. The Professional Coin Grading Services (PCGS) has taken great care and time to make sure of its authenticity and grade.

The origins of these Continental dollar are not completely clear. Some claim that they may have been designed as joke medallions by the British to poke fun at the colonies' strive for independence. Nonetheless they are extremely rare and valuable and are said by the PCGS to be 'a coin that is highly treasured and not often seen'.

The coins have several varieties in the spelling, ornamental designs, or in metal compositions.

The buyer has said that "The seller had a cookie box full of coins and medals for sale and, while the buyer was looking through it, the seller pulled out another box of coins with this coin on top", and although they didn't know what the coin was they asked for a price and the seller said 50 cents. Taking a chance on this token, the buyer later "Googled" - Continental currency & 1776 only then to discover what he had found.

The dollar denomination is also not displayed anywhere on the coin itself and its original worth has simply been surmised to equal a dollar.

After having a little sit down, believing he had found a treasure, he took it to a local coin dealer for authenticity. Even the dealer was unsure of its authenticity and suggested he send it to the United States for authentication. Rather than sending it all the way to the USofA, they traveled to the Paris branch of the PCGS to have the coin valued and their story confirmed.

The design, believed to be created by Benjamin Franklin, is thought to mean 'Time flies so mind your business', according to the CATO Institute. The rare coin, which is made of pewter, can be identified on one side by a design of three rings with the reverse side identified by interlocking chain links around the border of the face, featuring the names of the 13 colonial states.

Posted via Steemleo