1874 Liberty Head Eagle. MS-60 (PCGS). CAC.This is a delightful rose-gold example with a sharp strike and full endowment of softly frosted mint luster. Among the many provisions of the Act of February 12, 1873, was the requirement to "renovate" the nations gold coin situation with regard to pieces that had lost some of their intrinsic and, by extension, face value due to wear. In the <em>Annual Report of the Director of the Mint</em> for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, Mint Director James Pollock commented:<p><em>"It seems a remarkable omission in our laws, that there is no limit at which our coins shall cease to be legal tender on account of wear. In England, the sovereign, or pound sterling, is not legally current when it has lost more than half a grain....It has not been a serious trouble in this country from the fact that our coin is so apt to be exported. And yet it makes difficulty at the Customs Houses and national treasuries, as we have had occasion to know. The collectors and treasurers hardly know what they are to do when coins much abraded are offered to them. In some sections where gold is much used, as on the Pacific Coast and in the extreme southwest, the wear is very marked."</em><p>The relevant provisions in the Act of 1873, however, gave Pollock some hope in the governments ability to rectify this situation. By its terms, the Mint destroyed $32,717,185.50 in worn gold coins, mostly from Treasury Department stocks. These coins had sustained a loss in value of $193,568.90, or 0.017% of face value, and their destruction prompted Pollock to write: "The renovation of the gold coins is now about complete, except as to the light or worn pieces in circulation in the Pacific Coast states and territories; and if some provision were made for their withdrawal, the entire gold coinage would then be in good condition." Bullion recovered from the melted pieces was recoined into new gold issues.<p>Todays gold type collectors can certainly be thankful for this chain of events, since this recoinage of melted pieces resulted in an unusually high mintage of 53,160 circulation strikes for the 1874 Liberty Head eagle. This is the highest total achieved for the denomination at the Philadelphia Mint since 1855. Thanks to its relatively generous mintage, the 1874 ranks as the most plentiful eagle from the 1870s after only the 1878, 1879 and 1879-S. In an absolute sense, however, Mint State survivors are scarce to rare in all grades, few of the BU examples that we have handled over the years comparing favorably to this attractively original and technically superior MS-60.From the Fairmont Collection.
