Rare 1776 continental dollar coin found inside toffee tin to be auctioned

A dollar will be worth a lot more than that — as a rare 1776 Continental dollar coin will go up for auction next month.

Wotton Auction Rooms told CBS News in an email that one of its customers brought in his collection to be sold, and that the shipment included several items from the 18th and 19th centuries. Auctioneers for the Gloucestershire, England-based auction house were sorting through the hundreds of pieces included in the candy can when they found the coin near the bottom. The coin initially looked rather dull and boring, the auction house said.

“It was one of the last items to be examined. Once work started we thought the chances were it might well be a copy, although everything else in the plate had been genuine and of a very good standard,” Wotton Auction Rooms said .

The auction house sent the coin to numismatic guarantee company NGC for authentication – and the results confirmed the coin’s authenticity, Wotton Auction Rooms said.

The continental dollar was the first pattern coin struck for the United States. The continental dollar concepts, believed to be designed by Benjamin Franklin, were translated into coins by Elisha Gallaudet, an engraver in New York. Gallaudet was believed to have produced them at a makeshift private mint in New Jersey, said the Smithsonian Museumand the coins were issued in silver and pewter.

The silver versions of the coins are extremely rare and only two are known to exist, according to Professional coin grading servicea rare coin grading company. About 20 continental pewter dollars exist in mint condition, PCGS said. In 2008, a continental dollar was pewter auctioned for the record price of $264,500. In 2015, a silver continental dollar was auctioned for a record $1,527,500.

The newly discovered coin will be auctioned on October 3, the auction house said, and is estimated to fetch £20,000 (about $26,360) to £30,000 (about $39,540)