Exact date to spot on front of your coin to make it worth $10,800 – but a Benjamin Franklin detail makes it worth more

The historical significance of a REMARKABLE coin has led to its $10,800 auction sale.

Benjamin Franklin’s involvement in the coin’s design and the date on its reverse both add to its worth.

Because of its rareness, historical significance, and link to the US foundation, the Libertas Americana medal is highly prized by collectors.

Of all the medals associated with American history, it is among the most well-known and highly regarded.

On November 25, 2024, one of these coins brought $10,800 at Heritage Auctions.

The Libertas American Medal was designed by Benjamin Franklin, who was an American diplomat in France at the time.

In addition to honoring significant military triumphs at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781, he wanted the medal to recognize American freedom during the Revolutionary War.

Lady Liberty is shown on the coin’s obverse holding a pole and cap, signifying freedom.

Later, the pattern appeared on US large and half pennies.

To commemorate the passage of the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the United States, the Libertas Americana medal’s obverse is also inscribed with the year 1776.

The reverse of the coin depicts France as Minerva protecting the United States against the British lion while she is only a baby.

“This puts me in mind of a medal I have had a mind to strike… representing the United States by the figure of an infant Hercules in his cradle, strangling the two serpents; and France by that of Minerva, sitting by as his nurse, with her spear and helmet, and her robe specked by a few ‘fleurs-de-lis,'” Franklin wrote to US Secretary of Foreign Affairs Robert Livingston in March 1782.

The design was etched by famous French medalist Augustin Dupr and struck at the Paris Mint.

In the world of American coins, the Libertas Americana medal is regarded as the “Holy Grail” and regularly fetches high auction prices.

Apart from its historical significance, the medal’s immaculate condition also added to its high cost.

The Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, or NGC, certified it as uncirculated, which is quite coveted to collectors.

MILLION-DOLLAR COIN

In a record-breaking auction, another rare coin brought $2.52 million.

Coins from the pre-Federal era, or before the US Mint was founded in 1792, are among the rarest and most difficult to locate.

The 1652 NE Threepence, which sold for more than $2.5 million on November 18, is among the rarest pre-federal coins.

Experts in coins referred to it as the “most significant numismatic discovery in generations.”

Only one of these coins had been found and sold at auction until 2024, and that was 150 years ago.

The Roman numeral three etched in the same location on the reverse and the signature “NE” for New England imprinted at the top of the obverse both raised the coin’s worth.

Despite the lack of a date stamp, these historical features establish the coin’s production period and connect it to Hull and Sanderson’s mint in Boston, Massachusetts.

Take a look at these other uncommon coins.

After being kept in a family emergency vault, three sisters sold a rare dime that had a missing mint mark for $500,000.

Read more about the four rare nickels that are valued at up to $3.7 million.

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