NEW YORK — A 1794 silver dollar, which many experts believe was the first such coin struck by the US Mint, sold for a record $10 million at auction on Thursday. The Flowing Hair Silver Dollar more than doubled the previous $4.1 million record for a coin set in 1999, auction house Stack's Bowers Galleries said. Legend Numismatics, a rare-coin firm based in New Jersey, bought the coin, which was the highlight of the evening sale in New York that fetched a total of $17.2 million. “We felt in our heart that this would be the very first coin to exceed the $10 million barrier in auction and were in fact prepared to bid much high in order to acquire this unique piece of history,” the company said in a statement, adding it had no plans to sell the coin in the near future. David Bowers, chairman emeritus of Stack's Bowers Galleries, said the coin has unique features that make it particularly valuable. “It is the first American metal dollar struck and the finest known. You have these combinations coming together. No museum has an equal piece,” he said. The coin was part of the Cardinal Collection, amassed by the collector Martin Logies. — Reuters
