1877-S Liberty Head Double Eagle. MS-62 (PCGS). CAC.Intense frosty luster blends with vivid rose-gold patina on both sides of this sharp and inviting example. The 1877-S double eagle registered a mintage of 1,735,000 pieces, down some 138,000 coins from the previous year. Face value equaled $34,700,000. Some portion of the mintage made it into overseas banking transactions, a familiar scenario -- and a blessing to later generations of numismatists. Thanks to repatriations from foreign bank hoards, in fact, our estimate for Mint State survivors is a rather generous 1,500 to 2,500 coins. Most of these, however, hover around the MS-60 and MS-61 grade levels. As an upper end MS-62, the coin offered here represents the finest realistically obtainable for the issue as far as most of todays double eagle specialists are concerned.From the Fairmont Collection.