If you happen to find some old coins or stamps, don’t toss them aside because they could be worth more than you think with a recent rare collection selling for millions.
Collecting stamps and coins might be a fun hobby, but some collectibles are worth more than you think. Sotheby’s is auctioning off coveted items from a stamp collection and one of the world’s rarest coins that is expected to set an auction record. The collection belonged to American shoe designer Stuart Weitzman.
The proceeds from the auction will be donated to charitable ventures, including a family foundation. Four of the rare “Inverted Jenny” stamps sold at $4.9 million at auction breaking the previous world record for most expensive stamp auctioned at $2.9 million. These extraordinary stamps are worth millions due to the rare misprint kept mint condition and sold in under10 minutes at auction.
Another valuable collectible breaking auction records was a flawless $20 gold piece minted in 1933 that sold for $18.3 million. Sotheby’s didn’t stop there placing a 165-year-old One-Cent Magenta stamp from British Guiana (now Guyana) referred to as the “Mona Lisa” of stamp collecting fetching$8.3 million at auction.
Weitzman started collecting coins and stamps as a hobby but invested in more pieces that would hold or increase in value over the years. In2002, Weitzman acquired the double eagle coin for $7.6 million in 2002 and nearly doubled his profits by putting it up for auction. The double eagle piece originally had 445,000 minted and was supposed to be destroyed, but 20 coins(including Weitzman’s) were stolen from the mint before destruction.
10 of the remaining 20 coins were discovered in a deposit box in 2004 by a coin dealer’s daughter, and a Philadelphia jeweler owned the rest. The government challenged the daughter’s claim of ownership and won with the 10 coins sent to Fort Knox. The coin is so rare, no other double eagles can be privately owned, with Weitzman’s coin being the only one from 1933 that can be legally sold.
