An 1867 $5 gold coin made in San Francisco and forgotten inside a cigar box in a Texas closet has sold at auction for $97,600 (£74,800). The coin, officially known as an 1867-S Liberty Half Eagle, was found during an estate appraisal in Buda, Texas. Texas, experts from the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) examined the rare gold coin and gave it a Mint State 63 (MS63) grade, according to auction details published by Heritage Auctions in Dallas. Coins Signature event on October 8 and 9, 2026. It broke the previous auction record of $22,800 for the 1867-S coin.
This confirmed it as the finest-known surviving example of this coin. The sale price was more than four times the coin’s previous record. Appraisers discovered a green milk crate hidden in a bedroom closet. Inside were two shoeboxes and an old cigar box containing the historic coin and other 19th-century currency. It ranked two full grade points above the next best example. The coin was sold at Heritage Auctions’ GACC U.S.
Before the October auction, the highest recorded public sale price for an 1867-S Liberty Half Eagle was $22,800. Heritage Auctions set that record in 2021. The coin’s MS63 grade from PCGS attracted strong competition from private collectors and institutional investors, pushing the final price to $97,600.
“When the finest certified example of a coin with this much historical significance comes to auction, collectors take notice,” Imhof said in an official press statement released by Heritage Auctions. The discovery of the coins in Buda changed the known rankings for the condition of 19th-century American gold coins. Todd Imhof, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, explained the importance of the Texas discovery to the wider coin-collecting market.
Imhof added that finding an uncirculated 19th-century gold coin from a regional mint hidden in a home closet is extremely rare for today’s appraisers.