1870-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle. AU-50 (PCGS). Offered is an uncommonly high grade example of one of the most eagerly sought issues in the entire double eagle series of 1849 to 1933. In addition to being the rarest Carson City Mint double eagle, the 1870-CC is also the most difficult to locate with strong eye appeal. The obverse is always softly impressed to one degree or another, especially at stars 1 to 7 and the high points of Libertys portrait. The present example, while lacking centrils to most of the stars around the obverse periphery, is uncommonly bold throughout Libertys portrait. The central reverse also offers bold to sharp definition, as well as a fully legible legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and denomination TWENTY D. around the border.
The typical 1870-CC is very heavily abraded, often with numerous large, detracting marks, which should be expected for an early CC-Mint issue that served as a workhorse in commerce. The offered coin is overall lightly abraded from commercial use, but there are few sizeable marks, and none that are significant enough to immediately catch the viewers attention. Much of the original mint finish remains, including considerable prooflike reflectivity in the protected areas around and among the design elements. The color is a deep, rich orange-gold that provides strong eye appeal. This coin is certainly the equal of the finest certified examples in todays market, which are clustered within the About Uncirculated grade range. The 1870-CC double eagle is unknown in Mint State.
The double eagle is the fourth denomination produced by the fledgling Carson City Mint in 1870, following silver dollars, eagles and half eagles. The mintage is just 3,789 pieces, which Rusty Goe (<em>The Confident Carson City Coin Collector</em>, 2020) divides into five monthly deliveries:
-March = 1,332 coins
-April = 398 coins
-May = 1,137 coins
-June = 462 coins
-August = 460 coins
This is the lowest yearly production figure among the 19 double eagle issues attributed to this rustic frontier coinage facility. Since there was no contemporary numismatic interest in this issue, it entered commercial channels and suffered the expected high rate of attrition. It should come as no surprise that the 1870-CC is not only the rarest Carson City Mint double eagle, as above, but also one of the rarest in the entire Liberty Head series. It is every bit as desirable as the fabled 1854-O and 1856-O duo, the low mintage 1881, 1882, 1885, 1886 and 1891 circulation strikes, and the intriguing 1861-S A.C. Paquet Reverse - perhaps even more so, since no other coinage facility in U.S. history is as storied or romanticized as that which operated at Carson City from 1870 to 1893.
The rarity of the 1870-CC has long been established, and to this day it remains part of that select group of condition rarities within the U.S. series which are unknown in Mint State. Recent survival estimates put forth by numismatic researchers have been fairly tight, ranging from a low of 35 to 45 coins from Douglas Winter in the 2001 reference <em>Gold Coins of the Carson City Mint</em>, to a high of 55 to 65 coins proffered by Rusty Goe in his aforementioned book <em>The Confident Carson City Coin Collector</em>. Other sources have advanced similar estimates during the opening decades of the 21st century:
- Q. David Bowers, <em>A Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins</em>, 2004 = fewer than 50 coins
-Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth, <em>Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins: 1795-1933</em>, 2008 edition = 35 to 50 coins
-<em>PCGS CoinFacts</em> = 40 to 50 coins
Approximately half of the extant population, or 30 to 39 coins per Rusty Goe, grades EF to AU. Those certified AU-50 or finer by PCGS or NGC, the present example included, constitute much of the Condition Census for the issue. Choice coins in EF-45 also deserve inclusion in this group, such as the Fairmont Collection - Hendricks Set coin in PCGS/CAC EF-45 that realized an extraordinary (for the grade) $810,000 in our Spring 2022 Auction.
The record price at auction for the 1870-CC was achieved by the PCGS AU-53 coin - single finest certified by that service - that traded hands for $1,620,000 in Heritages November 2021 Signature Auction. The Winter plate coin, it was formerly part of the Isaac Edmunds, Donald E. Bently and Prestwick Collections.
NGC currently lists a single AU-55 example as its finest certified, which coin last appeared at auction in our (Bowers and Merenas) March 2009 Baltimore Auction. In December 2014, the Heritage catalogers described an NGC AU-58 example as: "The finest-known specimen, recently discovered and shortly thereafter stolen during a Brinks transport on October 19, 2011. Unrecovered." As of this writing, that coin no longer appears on the <em>NGC Census</em>.
The ownership of any 1870-CC is a mark of distinction for a numismatist, so much more so when the coin obtained numbers among the very finest certified, as here. Certainly one of the more aesthetically pleasing examples that we have offered for this challenging issue over the years, this piece is worthy of serious bidder consideration. It is sure to sell for a strong bid to an astute Carson City Mint and/or double eagle enthusiast.
Ranked #75 in the fifth edition (2019) of the influential reference <em>100 Greatest U.S. Coins</em> by Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth. PCGS# 8958. NGC ID: 26A8. PCGS Population: 5; 1 finer (AU-53). There are also no Mint State examples known to NGC. Ex our (Stacks) Estate of Joseph Bellini sale, January 1985, lot 1118; Old West CC Collection PCGS Registry Set; Heritages Houston Money Show Signature Auction of December 2014, lot 3858. The primary plate coin for the issue on the <em>PCGS CoinFacts</em> website.
