Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ Dec. 17 auction of the Larry H. Miller Collection was the last major sale of a year that was full of landmark collections coming to auction.

The trend is set to continue in the new year with more coins from the Simpson and Partrick collections coming in January at Heritage. Beyond Miller’s seven-figure 1804 Draped Bust dollar and 1894-S Barber dime was a coin that directly related to Miller’s deep connection with Utah as both a businessman and an owner of the Utah Jazz basketball team: an 1849 Mormon gold $10 piece.

The clasped hands on the reverse represent strength in unity while the obverse depicts a bishop mitre or hat above an all-seeing eye. The coins were designed by Brigham Young, who personally supervised the mint, which opened in late 1848. The entire mintage was just 46 coins, with 25 struck on Dec. 12, 1848, and another 21 delivered the following week, making the 1849 $10 coin the rarest issue in the brief Mormon series.

Miller’s is among the finest of around 10 pieces known today. Graded About Uncirculated 53 by Professional Coin Grading Service and bearing a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker, it realized $840,000.

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