1887-S Liberty Head Double Eagle. MS-62 (PCGS). Gorgeous golden-apricot color blankets both sides of this sharply defined, well preserved 1887-S twenty. Fully lustrous and frosty with abundant eye appeal. 283,000 double eagles were struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1887. Although this is not a particularly small mintage in an absolute sense, it marked the lowest production for double eagles coined at the San Francisco facility during the 1880s. As recently as 1982, David W. Akers considered the 1887-S to be scarce in Uncirculated condition, and Mint State examples appeared in fewer than 10% of the major auction sales that he surveyed in preparation of his landmark double eagle treatise. Later in 2004, when Q. David Bowers authored his <em>Guide Book of Double Eagles</em>, the situation was completely different, as thousands of Uncirculated examples from overseas bank reserves had come to light, and were repatriated in American collections. Today, the more generous estimates place the Uncirculated population above the 3,000-coin figure. Given the rarity of coins certified MS-63 and finer, the Fairmont-JBR specimen in MS-62 represents a significant find for the astute gold collector. PCGS# 9007. NGC ID: 26BS. From the Fairmont Collection - JBR Set.
