30 coins US Mint made to test designs, metals sold for more than $500,000

Thirty coins stamped by the U.S. Mint in the 19th century to test designs and metals have sold at auction for more than a half-million dollars.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions had expected the coins to sell Thursday night for more than $300,000. Heritage spokesman Noah Fleisher says they sold for a total of $505,440.

The biggest price was $76,375 for an 1871 silver dollar struck in aluminum and believed to be unique.

The coins from the collection of Dallas businessman and philanthropist Harry W. Bass Jr., who died in 1998 at age 71, were sold individually at the American Numismatic Association's World's Fair of Money near Chicago.

The proceeds will go to the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation, which helps support organizations in areas such as education and the arts.