Rare 1854 coin, size of dime, draws $253,000 at auction
Beverly Hills, Calif. – A rare Gold Rush-era coin owned by a descendant of Chinese immigrants who worked in the California gold fields sold for $253,000 to an anonymous buyer at a Beverly Hills auction.
The $2.50 coin has been confirmed by numismatists as one of only 12 “Quarter Eagles” known to exist from the 246 that were made at the San Francisco Mint in 1854.
The Quarter Eagle is about the size of a dime and was made from Gold Rush ore at the San Francisco Mint just months after it opened. It contains one-eighth ounce of California gold.
The anonymous seller’s great-grandfather acquired the coin between 1856 and 1858 while working the gold fields, according to the American Numismatic Rarities of Wolfeboro, N.H., which auctioned the coin Sunday.
“They took exceptional care of this important piece of American history for nearly 150 years,” said John Pack of American Numismatic Rarities. “In fact, it is the second finest known surviving example.”
The coin, which was expected to sell for at least $150,000, opened at $140,000 and quickly jumped in $5,000 and $10,000 increments before going to an anonymous collector for the final price.
LOS ANGELES
Holocaust survivor Wiesenthal dies at 96
Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down numerous Nazi war criminals following World War II then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died early today. He was 96.
Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
CHICAGO
Falsely accused boy settles suit with city
A boy falsely accused of killing an 11-year-old girl seven years ago agreed Monday to settle his lawsuit against the city and two police detectives for $6.2 million, a judge announced.
The settlement, which still must be approved by the City Council, came less than a week after the council ordered city lawyers to settle the matter.
Earlier this year, the city agreed to a $2 million settlement with the family of another boy also falsely accused in the 1998 murder of Ryan Harris.
The girl’s slaying made national headlines after the two boys, then 7 and 8, became the youngest murder suspects in the United States at the time. It took almost a month before the boys were cleared after tests showed semen on the girl’s clothing could not have come from them. A man awaits trial in the death.
CHEYENNE
Ceremony deactivates MX nuclear missile
Hundreds of soldiers, civilians and officials participated in a ceremony Monday at F.E. Warren Air Force Base to officially deactivate the Peacekeeper nuclear missile.
F.E. Warren oversaw the only squadron of 50 Peacekeepers deployed in the United States. The missile, also known as the MX, was deployed in the 1980s. Each missile carried 10 nuclear warheads.
The United States began removing the Peacekeeper from its intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal in 2002 after it determined the missiles were no longer needed with the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union.
WASHINGTON
Lawmaker demands probe in tree-cutting
An Oregon congressman called Monday for an investigation into how the Forest Service allowed 16 acres inside a rare tree reserve to be logged as part of a salvage harvest after a 2002 fire.
The tree-cutting inside the 350-acre Babyfoot Lake Botanical Area in southwestern Oregon was discovered by environmentalists last month after an approved timber sale was completed.
The Forest Service has said employees of the Rogue River- Siskiyou National Forest mismarked the area where the logging took place, although just who did it or how the mistake happened has not been determined.
OAKLAND, Calif.
Lawyers: Wal-Mart denied lunch breaks
Lawyers representing about 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees in California told a jury Monday that the world’s largest retailer systematically and illegally denied workers lunch breaks.
The suit in Alameda County Superior Court is among about 40 cases nationwide alleging workplace violations against Wal-Mart, and the first to go to trial.
Wal-Mart settled a lawsuit in Colorado for $50 million that contains similar allegations to California’s class-action suit. The company also is accused of paying men more than women in a federal lawsuit pending in San Francisco federal court.
