SALT LAKE CITY — Police and a St. George bank are trying to locate a woman who cashed in 14 rare gold coins at face value to pay for groceries.
The Double Eagle coins have a face value of $20 each but are actually worth 50 times that just based on the current price of gold. The oldest of the coins was minted in 1875, the newest in 1927.
A coin appraisal website indicates that a gold Double Eagle can be worth between tens of thousands and $1 million depending on condition, the year minted and other factors.
Zions Bank’s executive vice president for marketing and communications, Rob Brough, said banks deal only in face-value transactions, so a teller paid the woman $280 in the March 16 exchange. The woman told the teller she had groceries waiting at a nearby Wal-Mart, which had refused the coins as payment.
Brough said the bank wants to return the coins to their owner. A bank surveillance video shows a woman with short, dark hair who may be in her 20s or 30s. The Associated Press
