The story behind the 1933 $20 double sounds too fantastic to be true. It involves deceit, international intrigue, obsession and greed.
And Alison Frankel tells it all in Double Eagle: The Epic Story of the World?s Most Valuable Coin.
Also considered the world?s rarest coin, the 1933 $20 was stolen from the Mint before it was to be melted down, he says. It passed from the hands of con men to obsessive collectors to King Farouk of Egypt, before it was sold legally at auction for the highest price ever paid for a coin.
Frankl, a legal journalist who?s a senior writer for The American Lawyer, has pieced together a thriller-like 308-page narrative through research that includes interviews with Secret Service members who recovered the coin in a 1996 sting operation.
In addition, Frankl also takes an in-depth look at the world of rare coin collecting and explores the reasons why people are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to own such a coin.
Published by W.W. Norton & Co., the book comes out May 15 and will be available in hardcover for $25.95. To find out how to purchase the book, contact WW Norton & Co. by calling (212) 354-5500, by faxing (212) 869-0856 or by writing to: W.W. Norton & Co., 500 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10110-0017.
