LITTLETON — A local coin company has just struck a bonanza in the collecting world, acquiring more than 220,000 Eisenhower one-dollar coins that had been stashed away in a Montana bank’s basement for more than three decades.

A Littleton Coin Co. senior buyer flew to Montana to make the purchase from a private owner who kept them stored at the bank. The 223 Denver Mint bags — sewn shut in the 1970s with the brand new, never-circulated Dwight D. Eisenhower coins packed inside — then traveled across country to Littleton in an armored truck. The coins weighed 5.6 tons.

In a special staging area of the coin company, as many as 10 employees have been examining and grading the coins in preparation for putting them up for sale on Jan. 9, according to John Hennessey, the company’s vice president of marketing.

“This is exciting. We’re being careful not to disturb them,” said Hennessey, who said experienced personnel skilled at handling valuable coins are performing the work. He said Littleton Coin is one of the nation’s go-to companies for such a large transaction, and its purchase, worth “well over $1 million” is one of “a couple of major hoards” the company has acquired and offered for sale during his five years on the job.

“The coins’ owner contacted us through a third party,” Hennessey said.

Already valuable since they’re uncirculated, the coins will be further evaluated individually to determine exact condition and sale price. A rare perfect coin is awarded 70 points, the industry’s top rating, according to Hennessey.

The coins, minted between 1971 and 1978, were designed to honor Eisenhower, who died in 1969 after having served as a prominent Allied general in World War II, then as 34th President of the United States from 1952 to 1960.

They were shipped from the Denver Mint during the ‘70s to a Federal Reserve bank, and were then purchased by the Helena, Mont., seller who does not want his identity or specific location disclosed, according to the company’s buyer, Ken Westover, who completed the purchase in one day in Montana after opening several of the canvas bags and determining the value of what he called the “hoard purchase.”

“We’ve had several Midwest mega-hoards, but this certainly is a remarkable find,” said Westover, who has been a buyer for the Littleton company since 1995.

“It’s safe to say there is not a large quantity of Eisenhower dollars available. I’m not sure it was thought that a group like this would exist out there.”

Asked if he knew why the seller bought so many of the coins, or sat on them for so long, Westover said, “No, he made no comment about that, unfortunately. But fortunately they did (buy and preserve the coins.)”

“It’s always amazing why people do this. It’s a great coin; the last of the large-size dollar coins. It’s like a circulating commemorative. You have the popularity of Ike, then the Apollo 11 moon landing on the reverse design. He helped develop NASA, and was part of the space race,” Westover said.

Eisenhower’s likeness adorns the obverse of all the coins, but the reverse has two designs. A replica of the Apollo 11 insignia patch , and a U.S. Bicentennial commemoration for 1976, according to Westover, who said none of the coins bear a 1975 marking on them, although the bicentennial version was produced in 1975 and 1976.

The 66-year-old coin company is one of the North Country’s largest employers, with 300 workers, and runs two shifts per day.