Rare gold coin goes for $300,000 at auction
On Sunday, about 130 people, including antique dealers and coin collectors, took part in the last of the gold coin auctions that have been held by the Finance Ministry since 2006. About 30,000 rare coins have so far been auctioned off.
An old "2-yen golden coin" of 1880 went for about 32 million yen, or about 300,000 US dollars, far more than expected. It is believed that only about 10 "2-yen golden coins" still exist.
An old "20-yen gold coin" of 1876 was bought for 17 million yen, or 160,000 dollars.
The director general of the Japan Numismatic Dealers' Association, Kazuo Fukuo, says this may be the last time so many gold coins are up in a single auction.
Mr Fukuo says some very rare coins have been auctioned off at very high prices, probably because no one is sure if there will be more opportunities in future to get popular coins.
All earnings from the auctions will go to the national budget.
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