As
you would guess this is no ordinary coin as it should not exist.
President Roosevelt ordered in 1933 that no more gold coins should be
produced but somehow the message did not reach the Philadelphia mint
and they struck 445,000 Double Eagle 1933 (20 Dollar) coins. These
were then placed in a vault for a couple of years until they were
melted down into gold bars.
That should have been the end of the story but in 1941 one was offered for sale in New York and the US Secret Service opened an investigation. They discovered that 25 had been stolen and 9 were recovered in the 1940's. The record coin was sold to King Farouk of Egypt and disappeared for over 50 years until it resurfaced in London in the 1990's. The US government tried to seize this as stolen property but after a long legal fight the owner was allowed to sell this. This is now the second time it has been sold and each time for a record price. In 2005 a batch of 10 more coins appeared and were seized by the US government.
For those of you not keeping count that leaves 5 coins still out there somewhere so you may wish to have a quick check of any old coins you have. The picture is courtesy of the National Museum of American History and full details can be found on Wikipedia.
If all you find on your searches is old holiday coins all is not lost as these can be exchanged on this website and check out the exchange rate page for details at www.foreignmoneyexchange.co.uk not worth millions but maybe more than you expect.