TOP Jen U.S. Gold Coins

LIST OF STRONG PRICES AT SPECTACULAR AUCTIONS

- GREG REYNOLDS

Some terrific or extremely rare U.S. gold pieces brought strong prices in 2024, and the major auctions were interesting. Many buyers happily added important gold coins or patterns to their collections.

Though certainly not a U.S. gold coin and thus not a candidate for the following list, a Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) graded AU-55 1496 Gold Noble from Denmark deserves honorable mention.

This coin was the star of the first part of the Bruun Collection, which Stack's Bowers Galleries (stacksbowers.​com) auctioned in Copenhagen on Sept. 14.

According to xe.​com, the price realized of 1.2 million euros was equivalent to about US$1,329,393.45 on the day of the sale. This Danish gold coin thus brought more than any U.S. gold coin or pattern did in an auction in 2024.

The $1.329 million price realized for a Danish coin is relevant to this list despite the fact that European coins are not on it. Generally, during the 20th century, the most valuable U.S. coins were worth far more than the most valuable coins from the rest of the world. So far in the 21st century, world coins have been closing the gap.

On Jan. 8, Heritage Auctions (HA.​com) auctioned an NGC-graded MS-62 1663 Petition Crown, sort of like a silver dollar, for $960,000.

In June, Heritage auctioned two NGC-certified, modern Chinese gold coins dated 1992 and each brought more than 800,000 U.S. dollars.

Like world coins, pioneer gold coins are also excluded from this list. If every coin related item from North America or the whole world was eligible for inclusion on one list, apples and oranges would be mixed together, and many items on the list would be unrelated to each other. Pioneer gold coins followed historical gold discoveries and were usually made by private firms. Pioneer gold is a topic that is separate from U.S. Mint gold coins and patterns.