[Lee Stewart]

An extremely rare 'Double Eagle' coin sold for a record price of $18.9 million at a Sotheby's auction in June. The coin now holds the title for the most expensive ever sold, more than doubling the previous record. Remarkably, the coin's face value is just $20. The coin is so rare because the 1933 edition never actually entered circulation, and most were returned and melted down by the US government. However, around 13 coins did make it into circulation, and in 1944 the Secret Service declared that if any collectors possessed any of the coins they would be considered stolen. This coin was only able to be sold by a private collector after a legal battle between the United States Treasury and a former owner of the coin granted possession. The coin was then sold in 2002 for $7.6 million, setting a record at the time, before this sale by shoe designer Stuart Weitzman.