Huge coin collection found hidden in house's walls sells for nearly $3.5 million
A huge collection of historic gold coins, recovered from the wall of a house in France after their owner passed away, has been sold for millions of euros at auction.
Auction house Beaussant Lefèvre and Associates told CNN on Thursday that all of the coins had sold in Paris this week, fetching more than 3 million euros ($3.48 million) in total.
The coins were collected by Paul Narce, who lived in a small village in south-west France until his death in 2024, according to Beaussant Lefèvre and Associates.
'Narce, who lived a modest life and didn't see a lot of the world, spent all of his money on his collection,' said coin expert Thierry Parsy in a statement previewing the sale.
Over the years, he built up a collection of gold coins 'exceptional both in number, with more than 1,000 pieces, as well as the rarities it contains,' said Parsy.
Many of the coins date back centuries, according to Parsy.
Among them are ancient coins from the Kingdom of Macedonia, dating to 336-323 BC, as well as almost complete series of coins used during the reigns of French Kings Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI.
Narce had no direct descendants and only a few people knew of his hobby.
However, no one knew where he kept his collection, which 'could have remained undiscovered forever,' said Parsy, were it not for a notary who set out to find the coins in the house, which had been empty since Narce moved into a care home a year before he died.
The notary eventually found the coins in a small space in the wall, hidden behind a painting in a store room.
In addition to the carefully labelled collection, the notary also found 10 packages, each containing 172 gold 20 franc coins, equivalent to an ingot of gold.
The final sale far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of 2 million euros ($2.43 million).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Football club investor Eagle files for US IPO, Bloomberg News reports
(Reuters) -Eagle Football Holdings, one of the most active investors in global football clubs, has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The France-based company submitted a draft registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the report added, citing a company statement. The firm has been working with UBS Group AG on the potential IPO, the report said. Eagle Football, run by U.S. businessman John Textor, holds stakes in multiple football clubs including Olympique Lyonnais, Crystal Palace and Brazil's Botafogo. The SEC and Eagle Football did not immediately respond to request for comment outside regular business hours. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Forbes
35-Carat Graff Diamond Fetches $3.2 Million At Sotheby's New York Sale
35.01-Carat Graff diamond ring fetches $3.2 million at Sotheby's New York High Jewels auction Diamonds, rare colored gems and signed jewels from important private collections fueled Sotheby's High Jewelry auction in New York on Friday. The top lot of the sale, as expected based on pre-sale estimates, is a 35.01-carat emerald cut diamond on a ring from Graff with D color and VVS2 clarity. It fetched $3.2 million, just above its high estimate The Graff gem is one 13 jewels from a private collection, 'Joie de Vivrea: Journey in Jewels,' a bejeweled documentation of a lifelong love affair. Each piece was a gift from a devoted husband to his wife over the course of a marriage spanning more than 60 years. The collection of approximately 11 jewels—including pieces by Graff and David Webb—achieved $4.9 million. A Marcus and Co. ruby and diamond sautoir sold for more than $1.8 million The number two lot of the sale was a ruby and diamond sautoir, circa 1915, by important American retailer, Marcus & Co. (1892 – 1962). The drop-shaped pendant features a 9.60-carat cushion-cut unheated Burmese ruby, within a surround of old European-cut diamonds, framed and topped by caliber-cut rubies. The chain is set at intervals with old European-cut diamonds with the openworked clasp set with pear-shaped, old European- and single-cut diamonds. It sold for more than $1.8 million. The sautoir was one of four jewels from the collection of Emily Vanderbilt Wade, the daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt, III, former governor of Rhode Island, and the great-granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt. The Wades and Vanderbilts are two storied American families credited by many with shaping the American industrial, cultural and philanthropic landscape. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder 2.02-carat fancy vivid blue diamond ring sold for $1.75 million The next lot was a 2.02-carat modified rectangular mixed-cut fancy vivid blue diamond with VS2 clarity on a ring that sold for more than $1.75 million. JAR ring with an 8.63-carat emerald and diamond pavé. It fetched $1.6 million The number four lot is an emerald and diamond ring by JAR. The shank of the platinum and 18k gold ring is paved with single-cut diamonds. The ring is centered with an 8.62-carat square emerald-cut Colombian emerald with 'insignificant' and 'traditional' clarity enhancements, according to the report by the American Gemological Laboratories. It fetched $1.6 million, more than double its high estimate. The sale of 104 lots totaled $31.4 million with 95% of the lots sold and 65% of the lots surpassing their pre-sale estimates, Sotheby's said in a statement. The top eight lot sold for more than $1 million. More than half of the lots were sold to online bidders. 'Today's top prices were dominated by exceptional stones of extraordinary color,' Quig Bruning, head of Sotheby's Jewels, Americas & EMEA, said in a statement. 'It's also encouraging to see that the very best white diamonds remain highly desirable…. We saw remarkable enthusiasm for signed jewelry, with collectors showing appreciation for masterpieces by iconic names such as Schlumberger, Lalique, Suzanne Belperron and Harry Winston. These results reaffirm what we have long understood: that provenance, rarity, and exceptional craftsmanship continue to ignite the passions of collectors.' 5.02 carat fancy pink diamond ring sold for $1.5 million The number five lot is a 5.02-carat oval-shaped fancy pink diamond with VS2 clarity. It sold for more than $1.5 million. 7.50 carat unheated Kashmir sapphire ring, fetched $1.3 million A 7.5-carat unheated Kashmir sapphire on a platinum ring flanked by diamonds fetched more than $1.3 million, nearly double its high estimate. A pair of pear-shaped diamonds weighing 10.32 and 10.11 carats that fetched $1.3 million The number seven lot is a pair of pear-shaped diamonds weighing 10.32 and 10.11 carats. Both diamonds are D color, flawless, with excellent polish and symmetry, according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). It fetched more than $1.3 million. An 8.08 carat fancy vivid yellow diamond and diamond ring fetched $1.1 million Next is an 8.08-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond with VVS1 clarity mounted on an 18k gold ring and flanked by tapered-cut diamonds. It fetched more than $1.1 million, well above its high estimate.
Gizmodo
9 hours ago
- Gizmodo
Trump Regime Wants to Make Approvals Easier for Tesla's Mythical Cybercab
Anyone who attended the VivaTech tech fair in Paris, France, on Thursday got a peek at Tesla's much-hyped Cybercab, a two-seater robotaxi that won't include a steering wheel or pedals. It's unclear if Cybercabs will ever be hitting the roads, as Elon Musk's company is still working to develop them, but the Trump regime announced Friday it wants to make the approval process much easier, since any vehicle that doesn't have a steering wheel needs to get a special exemption that can take years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a letter on Friday to say it was going to 'prioritize safety' and 'unleash innovation' by streamlining approvals for exemptions to basic safety standards for automated driving systems. 'To facilitate automated driving systems (ADS) technology reaching its full potential to transform roadway safety, NHTSA is streamlining its exemption process for commercial deployment of vehicles and adopting a dynamic and flexible approach to evaluating these exemptions,' the letter reads. 'These improvements will allow NHTSA to process ADS and other exemptions more quickly while also allowing NHTSA to prioritize safety through a tailored and progressive operational oversight approach,' the letter continued. Federal safety standards require that vehicles driving on U.S. roads feature the kinds of basic things that you'd expect, because if something goes wrong, humans need to be able to control the vehicle. But the new letter from NHTSA says approvals for these kinds of vehicles can result in 'long processing times,' and the agency wants to 'ensure that exemptions remain effective tools for nurturing groundbreaking safety technologies.' The Cybercab doesn't exist yet, though Musk promised during the big announcement event back in October 2024 that they'd be available in 2-3 years. Musk is planning to launch a different kind of robotaxi service in Austin this month, though the final date is still uncertain. There had been rumors it would occur on Thursday, but that didn't happen, and it sounds like it'll be later this month, according to Musk. 'Tentatively, June 22. We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift,' Musk tweeted on June 10. 'First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28.' Unlike the Cybercab, Musk's new robotaxi service in Austin just uses regular Tesla Model Y vehicles that anyone can buy. It's still not clear how much remote control will be used by operators at a distance. If history is any guide, there could be a lot of teleoperation, just as Musk has used in his public demonstrations for his Optimus robots. As Bloomberg notes, Musk contributed over $250 million to help get Trump elected, and streamlining regulatory approvals for his companies was considered a top priority. But he does need to make the product first. Several articles have claimed Cybercab production will start in late 2026, but Musk has a long history of missing deadlines, if not failing to deliver on products entirely. If the billionaire oligarch is ever able to produce the Cybercab, the regulatory approvals will probably be much, much easier, provided Musk stays in the good graces of Trump. The Tesla CEO did essentially accuse Trump of being a pedophile recently. But what's a little pedo accusations between friends?
