LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 (ANA) Signature Coin Auction #444  / 

2016

1861-S $20 Paquet XF40 PCGS

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:32,500.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1861-S $20 Paquet XF40 PCGS
<B>1861-S $20 Paquet XF40 PCGS.</B></I> The stories of the Philadelphia and San Francisco Paquet double eagles of 1861 present an interesting series of contrasts, as outlined by Paul Green in the January 31, 2006 edition of <I>Numismatic News</B></I>. Though the Philadelphia Mint responded to the problem of the Paquet reverse's too-narrow rim by halting production and ordering New Orleans and San Francisco to do otherwise, the San Francisco Mint, without knowledge of the command that was traveling slowly across the country, simply altered the dies and began production. While Philadelphia was able to stop the production of double eagles and destroy all but two examples, San Francisco issued $385,000 worth of the gold pieces, corresponding to 19,250 coins, before receiving the dispatch from Philadelphia. Finally, while the two known Paquet survivors from Philadelphia are both certified as Mint State, neither NGC nor PCGS has graded an S-mint Paquet double eagle above AU58 (6/07). Thus, collectors must content themselves with circulated examples of this distinctive single-year issue.<BR> The June 2007 combined certified population of 144 pieces is consistent with an estimate by Bowers (2004), who stated that approximately 200 survivors were known across all grades, including pieces with impairments that made them unsuitable for certification. Though circulated like all examples, the XF40 piece offered here offers considerable visual appeal. Satiny luster appears at the obverse periphery and over much of the luminous orange-gold reverse. Light abrasions and small copper spots appear in the fields and on the portrait, though these are not particularly distracting. The devices on each side exhibit soft detail, but this is a characteristic that appears not only on Paquet reverse pieces but on regular-issue 1861-S twenty dollar pieces as well. In short, a pleasing representative of this challenging early Type One double eagle. Population: 10 in 40, 56 finer (6/07).<BR><BR><B>Coin Engraver:</B> James B. Longacre<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>\)
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