Double Eagle

Few objects can tell a tale to match this one coin's for drama and sheer improbability. Stolen from the US Mint in the depths of the Great Depression, it was shipped by diplomatic pouch to Egypt, hidden for forty years, seized in a sting at the Waldorf-Astoria and then sold in a record-setting auction. For years the only known 1933 twenty-dollar coin in the world has inspired the passions of thieves and collectors, lawyers and charlatans. Its story links an extraordinary cast of characters: Theodore Roosevelt and a shady Philadelphia gold dealer; King Farouk and a Secret Service agent; London's most successful coin dealer and a retired trucker from Amarillo. Alison Frankel's narrative hums at the pace of a thriller. Her meticulously researched descriptions and vivid character studies bring the coin's history to life and illuminate the world of coin collecting, where the desire to possess often borders on madness.