Rare dime sells for staggering amount

TAMPA, Fla. -- Whatever disparaging cliche you've heard about the lowly dime - dime a dozen, nickel and dimed, dime's worth of difference - it's not true of this dime.

No, this particular coin that went to auction Thursday evening in Tampa sold for just under $2 million.

The 1894-S dime belonging to a private owner was struck at the San Francisco Mint. Since the country was in a recession at the time, only 24 were made, and only nine likely still exist.

Experts say the dime is a rare icon in the coin collector's world and is in perfect condition.

It's one of the more famous rare coins," coin collector David Quint told CBS Tampa affiliate WTSP-TV.

Heritage Auctions says an experienced collector who wishes to remain anonymous outbid 15 others vying for the piece. The winner paid $1,997,500.

There's also a lot of interest in what happened to the other, long-missing 1894-S dimes.

In an effort to track down some of the coins, Heritage Auctions is offering a $10,000 reward to be the first to examine any previously unreported, genuine examples of the coins.

"They could be in somebody's desk drawer. They could be sitting in somebody's bank box. People could look almost anywhere and they might show up," said Mark Borckardt, senior numismatist at Heritage Auctions.

The auction was held during the Florida United Numismatists show.