Sunnyvale foundation pays $1.5 million for antique coin | News | Rare Coin Wholesalers, a S.L.Contursi Company

sacbee.com
The Associated Press
Friday, July 6, 2007

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- A nonprofit group paid $1.5 million for a coin that was only worth five cents when it was produced more than 200 years ago.

The 1792 half-dime, which was among the first batch of coins produced by the U.S. Mint, was purchased by the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation, which researches the history of coins and the methods used to make them.

The Sunnyvale-based foundation plans to show the coin at the World's Fair of Money in Wisconsin next month, but has no immediate plans to show it locally.

The 215-year-old coin, a combination of silver and copper, is smaller than the modern dime. It was part of a batch of 1,500 coins struck even before the Mint was constructed.

Before the building opened, the first U.S. Mint director, David Rittenhouse, took the coin-making equipment to the basement of a saw-maker's shop and started production. He gave the first batch of coins to Thomas Jefferson, who took them to the bank.

There may be as many as 400 half dimes in existence, but the one bought by the foundation is considered in the best condition.

"I hope I look that good at 215," said the coin's seller, Steven L. Contursi, owner of Rare Coin Wholesalers in Dana Point, Calif.