1869-S Liberty Head Double Eagle. MS-61 (PCGS).Delicate champagne-pink highlights enliven otherwise dominant medium gold patina on both sides of this lustrous and original BU example. Double eagle production at the San Francisco Mint in 1869 amounted to 686,750 coins, for a face value of $13,735,000. David W. Akers was able to identify just 12 auction appearances of examples listed as Mint State when he wrote his double eagle reference book in 1982. Later in 2004, when Q. David Bowers penned his emGuide Book of Double Eagles/em, the estimate was about 40 to 50 examples. Population reports give larger numbers but undoubtedly contain many duplicate submissions. The grade of the present example is identical to that of the Gaston DiBello-Gilded Age specimen that most recently appeared in our 2014 sale of the latter collection, where it realized an impressive $15,275.From the Fairmont Collection.
