How did this happen?

[George Bowman]

This information was discovered on Wikipedia.

 

To celebrate American-Thai relations in the 1800s, President Andrew Jackson gave Thailand a gold sword with a design of an elephant and an eagle on a gold handle.

The gift also included a proof set of American coins, which included a special 1804 dollar just for Thailand. Eventually this gift set was purchased for $8.5 million by Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Irvine, California on November 1, 2005.

 

 

The set had been sold by Goldberg Coins & Collectibles of Beverly Hills, California, on behalf of an anonymous owner described as "a West Coast business executive," who purchased it for over $4 million four years before...

[jackdd]

Link to the Source?

 

Sword:

This sword, featuring an eagle and an elephant on a gold handle, was presented to His Majesty King Rama III by American envoy Edmund Roberts in 1833, as a gift from President Andrew Jackson. The sword was kept in the royal treasury for more than one hundred fi fty years before being photographed and has remained there since.

Source: The Eagle and the elephant: Thai-American relations since 1833

 

Here a bit more about the coins: http://www.coinfacts.com/silver_dollars/1804_dollars/king_of_siam_1804_silver_dollar.htm

[keithpa]

Your going to get dozens of pages about how it happened, how it may have ;happened, who was ,or was not responsible, and in the end, probably about 3 months tjme,you will be none the wise. But, I guess, no, I know, it breaks the boredom.