2016-08-17 Wed

John Adam Kasson, America's minister plenipotentiary to Austria, managed to convince the Philadelphia Mint to issue a 4 dollar coin in 1879. The idea was to introduce an international currency which weighed as much as a French napoleon or a British sovereign.

The coin featured a giant star on one side and had two versions. One depicted the Liberty with her hair up, the other with her hair down. The coin was a big flop as the common man never found it useful or thought about international trade in those days. The coins were never struck on a large scale.

The first lot of 425 coins was sold to various politicians at a cost of the metal used to make the coin. One of these coins would be offered at Bonham's LA Auction and has an estimated price of $50,000 to $60,000 on 6th September.

The value of several coins keeps appreciating over time because of its rarity, its back story, its fineness and many other such factors. These Stella coins have always been everyone’s favourite but this one has been graded highly.