A very rare 1894-S dime recently sold for $1.32 million at an auction in Illinois. The collector, Dell Loy Hansen from Salt Lake City, purchased the extremely rare dime from John Brush (president of David Lawrence Rare Coins.) So why is this coin so valuable? There were only 24 of the 1894-S dimes minted in San Francisco, and only nine are currently known to be out there in the world. Mr. Hansen is attempting to collect one specimen of every single United States coin that has ever been minted from 1792 onward, and this certainly was perhaps the hardest one to collect, or at least one of the most expensive. He only needs six more coins to complete his collection, but those particular coins are currently not for sale.
The Barber Dime was designed by Charles E Barber, who also designed other versions of coins including the Barber Quarter and Barber Half Dollar. This specific 1894-S Barber dime was once owned by Jerry Buss, the late owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. There was a different 1894 dime that sold to an anonymous buyer for $2 million in 2016. You might also be interested in the recent sale of a 1943 copper penny for $1.7 million. They were only a handful of 1943 copper pennies, because they were supposed to be made out of steel to conserve copper for World War II. Scarcity means incredible value!