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Rare 1776 continental dollar coin found inside toffee tin to be auctioned
One dollar will be worth a lot more than that — as a rare 1776 continental dollar coin is set to go to auction next month.
Wotton Auction Rooms told CBS News in an email that one of its clients brought in their collection to be sold, and the haul contained several 18th and 19th-century items. Auctioneers for the Gloucestershire, England-based auction house sorted through the hundreds of pieces that were brought in the toffee tin when they found the coin near the bottom. The coin initially “looked rather dull and boring,” the auction house said.
“It was one of the last objects to be examined. Once work started, we thought that the chances were that it could well be a copy, although everything else within the tin had been genuine and of a very good standard,” Wotton Auction Rooms said.
Wotton Auction Rooms
The auction house sent the coin to the NGC numismatic guarantee company for authentication — and the results confirmed the coin’s authenticity, Wotton Auction Rooms said.
The continental dollar was the first pattern coin struck for the United States. Believed to be designed by Benjamin Franklin, the continental dollar concepts were translated into coins by Elisha Gallaudet, a New York engraver. Gallaudet was thought to have made them at a makeshift private mint in New Jersey, the Smithsonian Museum said, and the coins were issued in silver and pewter.
The silver versions of the coins are extremely rare and only two are known to exist, according to the Professional Coin Grading Service, a rare coin grading company. About 20 pewter continental dollars exist in mint condition, said PCGS. In 2008, a pewter continental dollar was auctioned for the record price of $264,500. In 2015, a silver continental dollar was auctioned off for a record $1,527,500.
The recently discovered coin is set to be auctioned on October 3, said the auction house, and is estimated to go for £20,000 (about $26,360) to £30,000 (about $39,540)
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.