1885-S Liberty Head Double Eagle. MS-65 (PCGS). A landmark condition rarity among circulation strike 1880s double eagles. Beautiful rose-gold surfaces are originally and expertly preserved with eye appeal to spare. Lustrous and frosty, as well, with a razor sharp strike throughout the design.<p>The mintage for this issue is 683,500 coins. Similar to contemporary San Francisco Mint twenties most 1885-S examples promptly entered circulation; many others were shipped overseas as a component of international trade, and still others were set aside for the backing of Gold Certificates. David W. Akers, writing in 1982, enumerated a few dozen Uncirculated examples that he found listed in a survey of major auction sales going back to the 1940s. By 2004, when Q. David Bowers penned his <em>Guide Book of Double Eagles</em>, the supply was estimated at between 2,000 and 4,000 examples, this being in a different era after significant quantities of classic U.S. Mint gold coins had been repatriated from foreign bank hoards. While plentiful in lower grades, the 1885-S remains rare at the Choice Mint State level, as here. It is exceedingly rare as a Gem, this being one of only three grading events in MS-65 listed at PCGS. (There are no examples graded higher than MS-64 at NGC.) This is the first auction appearance ever for the 1885-S in MS-65, and this extraordinary Fairmont specimen is poised to set a new price record for the issue.</p> From the Fairmont Collection-Hendricks Set.
