'Fake' gold coin sells for $2.16m

Mistakenly believed by its owner to be fake, a historic gold coin was authenticated as 'the discovery of a lifetime' by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation in 2019.

It is only the fourth known surviving example of a $5 denomination coin struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1854. The 1854-S Liberty Head $5 gold half eagle was one of the first coins struck at the San Francisco Mint. It made $ 2.16m. Mint records indicate 268 of the coins were made in 1854. The other known coins have a history. One is located at the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian, and another was stolen from the DuPont family in 1967 and hasn't been seen since.