1878-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle. AU-55 (NGC). This handsome example exhibits vivid rose-orange patina to surfaces that still retain ample mint luster in a softly frosted texture. The detail is sharp to full throughout the design, and the eye appeal is superior for a CC-Mint twenty that saw light commercial use. The mintage of double eagles at the Carson City facility 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 Halperin corroborate this assessment, ranking this issue fourth in rarity out of the 19 Carson City double eagles in their reference <em>The Gold Coins of the Carson City Mint</em> (2001). Perhaps just 400 examples remain in all grades, and the coin offered here is finer than most.
