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1794 silver dollar worth $10M for sale by New Jersey dealer: 'This coin is the Holy Grail'

Las Vegas collector Bruce Morelan with the 1794 U.S. silver dollar that is said to be among the first ever minted.
Las Vegas collector Bruce Morelan with the 1794 U.S. silver dollar that is said to be among the first ever minted.

ASBURY PARK, N.J. – A rare 1794 U.S. silver dollar, believed to be the first silver dollar minted by a newborn United States, is going up for sale by a New Jersey coin dealer.

"This coin is the Holy Grail of all dollars," said Laura Sperber, president of Legend Numismatics in Middletown's Lincroft section. The sale, by Legend Auctions, will be Oct. 8 at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and online.

Bruce Morelan, a Las Vegas collector, purchased the coin, nicknamed the "Flowing Hair Silver Dollar," in 2013 for $10 million, the most ever paid for a rare coin. It features Lady Liberty ringed with stars on one side and an eagle on the other.

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“Of the 1,758 silver dollars the Mint delivered in October 1794, perhaps less than 130 are known to still survive, and this particular coin is the finest known,” said Brett Charville, president of Professional Coin Grading Service, a rare-coin authentication company, in a statement.

"It is believed to the very first one struck," Sperber said. It is "extremely significant."

It was presented to then-Secretary of State Edmund Jennings Randolph, who referred to it with a letter to President George Washington.

This 1794 coin is believed by many experts to be the first silver dollar struck by the United States Mint. The early American dollar set a record as the world’s most valuable rare coin sold at auction when it was purchased for more than $10 million in 2013.
This 1794 coin is believed by many experts to be the first silver dollar struck by the United States Mint. The early American dollar set a record as the world’s most valuable rare coin sold at auction when it was purchased for more than $10 million in 2013.

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Charville grades it a specially made “specimen,” above mint condition, and a 66 on a scale with 70 being perfect. Another 1794 silver dollar, graded 35 of 70, sold in January for $288,000, and one graded at 12 sold last year for $99,000, he said.

Morelan's Flowing Hair dollar is the centerpiece in the auction that will also feature 14 other early American silver dollars from his collection. It includes one of the eight known 1804 dollars specially struck as diplomatic gifts in the mid-1830s.

The entire collection is estimated to bring in $15 million to $18 million, with the Flowing Hair dollar expected to bring in at least $10 million.

“Coins are in my blood, and the 1794 dollar was a lifelong dream,” Morelan said in a statement. "Now that my early American dollars collection is complete and nothing else can be added, I’ve decided it’s time for other collectors to enjoy these magnificent coins.”

Morelan bought the Flowing Hair dollar from the nonprofit Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation of Sunnyvale, California, which bought it in 2010 for $7.85 million from Steven Contursi, a collector who acquired it for an undisclosed sum in 2003.

"This historic coin is a national numismatic treasure that symbolized the young USA’s financial independence," said Matthew Bell, chief executive officer of Legend Auctions, in a statement.

"Because of its significance in 1794, it was likely seen at the time by President George Washington, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson who oversaw the Mint, and by Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury,” Bell said.

"You have to wonder who was there and who handled it," Sperber said. "If we could test its DNA, it would be incredible."

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Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: 1794 silver dollar worth $10M for sale by NJ dealer: 'the Holy Grail'