1878-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle. AU-53 (PCGS).Clouds of satiny luster surround the devices and complement the subtle reflectivity in the fields. The central elements show faint traces of handling, though the fields remain pleasantly smooth at this grade level. Sharply struck and painted in rich medium-gold hues. The mintage of double eagles at the Carson City mint dropped from 42,565 in 1877 to 13,180 in 1878. Writing in 1988, specialist David Akers noted, The 1878-CC is a rare date in all grades; in fact, it is the fourth rarest CC-Mint Double Eagle, just nosing out the lower mintage 1879-CC. Virtually all known specimens grade in the F to EF grades and a strictly graded AU is a rarity. Doug Winter and Jim Halperins corroborate this assessment, ranking it 4th in rarity out of the 19 Carson City double eagles in their reference The Gold Coins of the Carson City Mint (2001). Perhaps just 400 examples remain in all grades and the present is among the most handsomely preserved.
