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Thursday, 26th January 2006 (6317 views)

An anonymous coin collector has shelled out $125,000 for a rare Oregon gold coin, the Associated Press reports.

The $5 gold coin was minted in 1849, before Oregon was even a state, and was bought from Rogue River by a private buyer in La Grande.

If coins could talk, this one would have a lot to say, as it came into existence in a tumultuous period of Oregon's history.

Before 1849, Oregon territory's 13,000 inhabitants had traded using methods of barter but decided it was time to bring in a better medium of exchange.

But the territorial legislature's plans to begin minting gold coins were soon scuppered when federal officials rode into town calling for production to stop.

But the good folk of Oregon ignored federal laws and set up their own illegal mint in Oregon City anyway, producing 6,000 'Oregon Beaver' gold coins in all.

One side of the coin depicts a beaver and is engraved with the initial of the eight "men of affairs" who started the mint.

The private buyer wished to remain anonymous so as not to draw attention to the location of his extensive coin collection.

 

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