More Than A Pretty Penny

A rare 165-year-old silver dollar known as the Mona Lisa to coin collectors fetched a record-breaking $4.14 million at auction Monday. The coin, minted as a gift for the Sultan of Muscat - now Oman - sold for more than double the previous $1.8 million world record auction price for a rare coin, said Raymond N. Merena, president of the auction company that presided over the sale. The coin went to an American buyer identified only as a Southwestern business executive. The coin was one of eight silver dollars minted in 1834. However, the coin is dated 1804 because silver dollars were not being minted at the time and an old coin mold had to be used.