A scarce 1852 $10 gold coin from the California Gold Rush era sold for $354,375 after 74 bids at auction, with experts calling it the only mint-state example known.
Daily Mail reported that Great Collections offered the private-mint gold piece at a Sunday auction and watched bidding climb through 74 lots of interest before the hammer fell at $354,375.
The coin carries a Liberty head ringed by 13 stars. Auction organizers labeled it a “major rarity,” and specialists Dr. Donald Kagin and David McCarthy described it as the only mint-state example known.
Only six other examples of the type are known. Four of those came up from the wreck of the SS Central America.
Count Samuel Wass and Agoston Molitor, Hungarian exiles, reached San Francisco in 1848 as the Gold Rush took hold. Two years later they opened a refinery under the name Wass, Molitor & Company.
By 1852 the firm had five- and ten-dollar gold coins in circulation, working alongside other private suppliers such as Kellogg & Co. Miners and merchants needed trustworthy hard money long before federal capacity caught up.
The U.S. Mint opened a San Francisco office in 1854. Private companies then stopped turning out the local gold issues that had kept commerce moving.
That short window is why an 1852 Wass, Molitor $10 in top condition still commands real money. The market priced scarcity, survival, and the story of private enterprise filling a public need.
The same Great Collections sale moved several more notable pieces. A 1918 Lincoln Illinois Centennial half dollar brought $78,750 after 66 bids.
An 1854 Seated Liberty half dollar with arrows, noted for extraordinary original toning, sold for $33,750 on a single bid. A 1913-S Barber quarter, called a “key rarity” by the house, finished at $32,051 after 37 bids.
A double-struck 1973-S Eisenhower dollar, an error Great Collections described as one of the most dramatic formats possible on a modern proof coin, drew 40 bids and closed at $16. A 1947 Mexico gold 50 pesos sold for $9,067. A gold coin from the ancient Roman Empire realized $20,818. A 1921-S Walking Liberty half dollar went for $9,282.
The spread ran from six-figure territorial gold to a cheap modern error. Collectors still sort real rarity from novelty when the bids are live.
No consignor or winning bidder was named in the available account, and the auction city was not listed. The result still stands on its own: a private Gold Rush $10, preserved in mint state, found a buyer at $354,375.
Hard money, clear title, and open bidding still tell the truth about value, no central plan required.