Gold Coin Sells for Half a Million Dollars!

In January, 2010 a rare 1907 Double Eagle $20 gold coin was sold in Orlando, Florida -for over half a million dollars!

What made this coin so unique? NGC certified "Proof-62" (a very high grading for an old coin) - with a "Farouk" pedigree - indicating that it was formerly owned by the legendary King Farouk. Just one of an incredible cache of highly valuable, sought after numismatic coins.

The Double Eagle was actually discontinued in 1933, when President Franklin Roosevelt prohibited circulation of gold, in an attempt to rebuild the U.S. economy during the Depression. Hoarding of gold was also prohibited and many Americans dutifully turned in their gold to the banks. Though the U.S. Mint continued to make new gold coins- producing 445,000 new $20 Double Eagle coins - which were never put into circulation.

In 1937, the 1933 Double Eagle coins were destroyed, except two, now at the Smithsonian Institute. Prior to this however, several coins were stolen. The chief cashier took ten of the coins, which were later recovered. Except for one - which somehow found its way into King Farouk's collection.

Who was King Farouk? And how did he manage to acquire such a treasure?!

Farouk I F?r?q al-Awwal ? (1920- 1965)

Full title: His Majesty Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan, and of Darfur.

Like many nobles, he was educated in England. Multilingual, he spoke eight languages fluently: Arabic, Turkish, Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, and Russian.

Throughout his short, but eventful life, this infamous Egyptian was well known for his lavish, excessive, Western lifestyle. Upon the death of his father, at just 16 years of age, he was crowned King of Egypt, inheriting thousands of acres of land, palaces by the dozen, hundreds of cars, and a huge treasury.

Farouk loved the glamorous royal lifestyle, the money, travel, and made frequent shopping trips to parts of Europe - which not surprisingly, did not prove popular with many of his subjects.

It was also reported that he once offered a Mexican actress Queen Nefertari's (wife of Ramses) crown - for a single night of passion. It is not known whether she took Farouk up on his offer, but the crown remained in Cairo...

During his reign (1936 to 1952), King Farouk 1st was a prolific collector of gold, and built up one of the largest, most impressive international collections of gold numismatic coins.

It was estimated that he acquired an amazing 8,500 gold coins - some of them quite rare. Farouk picked up most of his coins in the 1940s, when a numismatic dollar was far less expensive, costing just one Egyptian pound.

During World War II, Farouk was widely criticized for continuing his lavish lifestyle, and for keeping all the lights burning at his Alexandrian palace during black-out periods, while the city was being bombed by the Germans and Italians.

Despite British occupation, Farouk kept Egypt officially neutral, until the final year of the war. He did however, write a letter to Hitler, advising that an invasion would be welcome. Finally, under heavy pressure from Britain, Farouk declared war on Germany, but not until most of the fighting in Egypt was already over.

Due to corrupt government, long-standing British occupation, and the loss of most of Palestine to Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Farouk's unpopularity dropped to new levels.

A military coup in 1952 forced Farouk to abdicate and go into exile, first in Monaco and then settling in Italy where he lived for the rest of his life..