A rare coin minted in 1658 has fetched a whopping USD 170,000 at an auction, making it the most expensive coin ever sold in Denmark.
The Double Taler coin was minted in Norway under the rule of Denmark's King Frederik III and fetched the highest ever price for a coin auctioned in Denmark when auction house Bruun Rasmussen sold it for 1.15 million kroner (USD 170,000).
An unnamed Norwegian was the highest bidder and the new owner of the coin, which is the only one of its kind and is in remarkable condition despite being over 350 years old.
The winning bidder told Bruun Rasmussen's Michael Fornitz that he viewed the rare coin as "the holy grail", 'The Local' reported.
The coin was originally created as a gift for King Frederik III's Copenhagen art chamber but never made it there, possibly because of the outbreak of the Dano-Swedish War in 1657.
The coin has been in the possession of a family that first had it in Norway and later in Denmark.
According to Fornitz, the latest family members assumed possession of the coin in 1982 and it laid in a box with an assortment of other, mostly worthless, coins.
Earlier this year, the family decided to see if their King Frederik coin was worth anything.
"It came as a bit of a shock - in a good way - when the price turned out to be a bit higher than they expected," Fornitz said.
