What may be America's oldest silver dollar has become the world's most expensive coin, with its owner saying it changed hands in a private transaction between coin collectors for nearly $8 million. Steven L. Contursi, who has owned the mint-condition 1794 Liberty dollar for the past seven years, confirmed Thursday that he sold it to the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation of California for $7.85 million. The previous record price paid for a coin was $7.59 million for a US-minted 1933 $20 gold piece. The US began producing silver dollars in 1794, and this particular one remains in near-perfect condition 216 years later.Part of the so-called flowing-hair silver dollars, the coin has a portrait of Lady Liberty with long, straight hair on the front and a noticeably skinny American eagle on the back.
