1886 Liberty Head Double Eagle. AU-53 Details--Cleaned (ANACS).An attractive and pleasing rarity despite the noted qualifier. Somewhat bright with only the faintest hairlines visible under scrutiny. Evenly toned in pale golden-wheat shades, with considerable reflectivity in the fields. Sharp and without individually distracting abrasions. <p>One of the rarest dates of the series with a tiny mintage of 1,000 pieces for circulation, of which perhaps 40 to 60 survive today, most in much lower grades. A couple of survivors are in mint state, but precious few. The Philadelphia Mint issued double eagles in sparse quantities in the 1880s, while the San Francisco Mint struck quite a number in most of these years. Survival rates are dismal for these with perhaps 4 to 6 percent surviving to today, most of course melted during the change of government policy away from a gold backed currency in 1933 where all the gold coins were gathered up and melted into gold bars that are stored in Fort Knox under the consulship of President Franklin Roosevelt. An exceptional opportunity for the date specialist. We have not offered an example in any grade since 2011, emphasizing the historic opportunity of the present piece.PCGS# 9006. NGC ID: 269X.From the BKingdom Collection.
