LOS ANGELES: The $4 Coiled Hair Stella gold coin from 1880 is scheduled to be auctioned on September 23 by Bonhams in Los Angeles and could pull in up to $1.5 million.

The extraordinary coin containing six grams of pure gold was struck in the United States, but never released into circulation and will be sold in a lot with 26 other coins worth up to $8 million.

Paul Song, director of rare coins for Bonhams said, "That's an average lot value of almost $300,000 per coin. That may not be a Monet painting but in my world, that's pretty amazing. It's been a privilege to handle them, and they are gorgeous, just because they're gold, perfectly struck and the designs are really incredible."

Song explained that the rare miniature work of art, featuring a representation of Liberty, was designed to match the weight of coinage of countries in the Latin Monetary Union like France, Belgium and Switzerland, to make inter-country trading easier.