Florida coin auction could net $50 million

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- An auction in Orlando, Fla., that will include the sale of five U.S. coins minted in 1915 should result in at least $50 million in sales, the auctioneer says.

Heritage Auction Galleries President Gregory J. Rohan said the upcoming auction will include five gold and silver. coins once owned by Egyptian King Farouk.

"If coins could talk, this widely traveled set would have quite the story to tell. They were part of the famous coin collection of King Farouk that the Egyptian government sold at the palace in Cairo in 1954 after he was exiled," Rohan said in a Heritage release.

The coin set, up for bid in an auction Thursday, was first sold for $200 in 1915. It could be sold this week for more than $150,000. The set, along with other rare coins and paper money up for auction, could result in $50 million in sales during the five-day public event.

"The five coins have a combined face value of $104 and were made at the San Francisco Mint to commemorate the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (Pan-Pac) held in that city that year," Rohan said.