Coin Struck at Boston Mint in 1652 Sells for Small Fortune

It was worth a mere threepence when struck at the new Boston Mint in 1652, but the rare silver coin is now worth more than $2.5 million after a bidding war at auction. The price is a record for a non-gold coin struck before the establishment of the US Mint, reports CNN. The coin is one of only three known to exist, according to auction house Stack's Bowers Galleries, which handled this week's sale.

The coin is about the size of a nickel, and it was struck soon after the Boston Mint opened in what was at the time a British colony. It features "NE" on one side, for New England, and the Roman numeral III on the other to represent its value, per CBS News. The coin turned up in a cupboard in Amsterdam in 2016, and CNN reports it may have a connection to John Adams, who served as ambassador to the Netherlands before becoming the second American president. An English collector asked him for help getting one of the coins, and Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, who was related to the silversmith. (More coins stories.)