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The 1792 Washington President gold eagle coin
was never circulated as money but is instead thought to have
been presented to Washington when post-Revolutionary War plans
were being drawn up for the first U.S. Mint, according to
Heritage Auctions.
“Numismatic researchers widely agree it is one of the most
important coins in American history,” Heritage co-founder Jim
Halperin said in statement announcing the sale.
Currency researchers believe that the Washington President coin,
which has his profile on the front and an eagle on the back, was
given to him as part of a sales promotion in a bid to obtain a
contract to strike U.S coinage, and that Washington carried it
as a personal memento.
The U.S. Mint was authorized in 1792 and the first coins for
public use were issued a year later in copper and silver, with
images of lady Liberty on the front and a bald eagle on the
back.
The Washington President coin comes from the collection of the
late Eric. P. Newman, who acquired it privately in 1942.
Newman died in 2017 at the age of 106 having amassed one of the
most significant coin collections in the United States.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Paul Tait)
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