1870 Liberty Head Double Eagle. MS-61 (PCGS).Enchanting golden-orange surfaces are sharply struck with a full endowment of frosty mint luster. Just 155,150 circulation strike double eagles of this date and mint were produced with a modest face value of $3,103,000. In 1982 David W. Akers had seen very few 1870 twenties in any grade approaching Mint State. Many of these were sent overseas in later years, by which time they were worn. While EF and AU coins are readily obtainable in the context of the Type II Liberty Head series, Uncirculated examples are rare and seldom offered. In the year 1870 the few numismatists who were interested in collecting double eagles ordered Proofs from the Mint. We are not aware of any collector who at the time desired a newly minted circulation strike. Even as late as 1893, Augustus Heaton commented that he knew of no one who collected mintmarked varieties of gold coins of the denominations of $5, $10, and $20. As this was in his <em>A Treatise on Mint Marks</em>, Heaton was commenting only on branch mint issues, however the same could have been said for numismatists currently seeking new circulation strikes. In January 1936, Thomas L. Elder, in his offering of the Charles W. Sloane and Frank Lenz Collections, offered an Uncirculated example and noted it was "very rare." More than any other dealer of the era, Elder, based in New York City, eagerly sought scarce gold coins of all denominations after 1933 when the government began calling them in. Elder sent out notices to bank tellers and others, offering premiums, and was responsible for saving countless thousands of pieces from the melting pot. By 1936 he was well aware that a Mint State 1870 double eagle was a rarity, as noted. The presently offered coin offers the successful bidder a chance to obtain an attractive high grade example of this conditionally challenging issue.PCGS Population: 24; 23 finer (MS-63+ finest).From the Fairmont Collection.
