One-of-a-kind rare coin returns to New Orleans

The airport is often about a clutching goodbye, but one day in September it was about a homecoming.

That was the day New Orleans coin collector and dealer Paul Hollis walked through Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, flanked by an armed security guard and a State Police escort. Hollis walked through the airport, carrying in his hand a one-of-a-kind coin, sold at auction two years ago for a price that reached into seven figures.

“Well, traveling with a coin worth millions of dollars is, I mean it’s fun, but at the same time, you’ve got to be a little guarded,” Hollis said.

He arranged to have the coin shown here in New Orleans on loan, and flew to Florida to pick it up from an anonymous collector, then held it tightly in his hands for the next five hours.

“I'm not putting it in my sock,” he joked. “I'm not putting it in my briefcase. I'm going to carry this coin the entire way back to New Orleans.”

A short drive later, from the airport to the French Quarter and the Old U.S. Mint, meant the coin was . . .

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