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1864 $20 PR64 Cameo NGC. 1864[$20] PR64

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1864 $20 PR64 Cameo NGC. 1864[$20] PR64
<B>1864<$20> PR64 Cameo NGC.</B></I> A brilliant greenish-gold cameo proof with heavily frosted design motifs and fully mirrored fields. Faint hairlines are visible on Liberty's cheek and in the left obverse field, undoubtedly accounting for the limited grade of this near-Gem. The obverse has two curved lint marks near the border, above and below star 13. These will aid in tracing the pedigree of this example. There is no evidence of lint marks or other mint-made blemishes on the reverse.<BR> Just 50 proofs were recorded in Mint records, and a smaller number were actually sold. During the Civil War, with extensive hoarding of silver and gold, few proof gold coins were actually sold by the Mint. At the time, United States currency was not acceptable for the purchase of these coins. It was necessary to make a like-kind exchange, as gold proofs could only be acquired by presenting payment in gold coinage. The entire process was described by Dave Bowers in the October 1999 sale of the Harry Bass collection, at lot 1494:<BR> "Ordering proofs was not an easy matter during this era. The Philadelphia Mint would not accept federal greenback notes at par for its own coins, and thus gold could only be purchased at a steep premium (the government kept separate books on gold coins sold at premiums, and later published a list, recently excerpted in the book, <I>The Treasure Ship S.S. Brother Jonathan</B></I>), or else accepted payment in other gold coins, plus a proofing charge. To obtain other gold coins, a numismatist had to go to a bullion or exchange broker and at that location buy them at a sharp premium in greenbacks. The procedure was anything but simple.<BR> "Further, proof large-denomination gold coins were not extensively popular with numismatists until the 1930s. One need but go to auction catalogues of the 1920s to find Liberty Head proof coins selling for just a modest amount over face value! Faced with lack of marketability for these coins, many holders of proofs simply spent them. Finally, when gold coins became popular in an extensive way in the 1930s (a passion growing in intensity in the 1940s and increasing ever since), it was found that proof gold, never common to begin with, was simply not available--unless you were in the right spot at the right time with the right amount of money."<BR> Only a few examples of this date have survived in proof condition. The Smithsonian Institution and the ANS each have examples. Major collections with an example included Garrett, Eliasberg, Carter, and Bass. A few other auction appearances have been noted over the years, but we suspect those appearances only represent two or three additional coins, including this example. It is probably the case that less than 10 proofs remain in existence.<BR><I>From The Lake Highlands Collection.</B></I> <BR><BR><B>Important not