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

1974

1870-CC $10 AU50 NGC.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:38,750.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1870-CC $10 AU50 NGC.
<B>1870-CC $10 AU50 NGC.</B></I> The Carson City, Nevada, Mint opened in 1870 despite financial misgivings and Congressional obstructionism in Washington, striking in its inaugural year the largest three circulating coinage denominations each in gold and silver. Each of the three gold and silver issues is a key within its respective series. Rusty Goe, in The Mint on Carson Street (2003) provides estimates of the surviving members of 1870-CC coins. From rarest to least rare--relatively speaking--the order works out to: quarter dollar (39-49 pieces estimated surviving in all grades); double eagle (45-50 coins); eagle (70-80); half eagle (70-85); half dollar (125-150); and silver dollar (450-650). Goe notes that "At one time (the 1870-CC eagle) was considered rarer than the double eagle issued the same year at the Carson City Mint, however, during the last decade of the 20th century handfuls of unknown examples were introduced onto the market."<BR> The 1870-CC eagle is among the most popular dates in the entire Liberty Head series, and it is the second most valuable date from 1838 to 1907, surpassed only by the legendary 1875 eagle issue. Currently unknown in Mint State or even in AU58, the 1870-CC shows combined population totals at NGC and PCGS of 12 pieces in AU50, six coins in AU53, and five examples in AU55, the finest certified examples now known. Curiously, Goe estimates that a single Mint State piece exists, although Garrett and Guth, more realistically, note that XF examples are rare and AU examples are extremely rare.<BR> The present survivor from the recorded mintage of 5,908 eagles boasts semiprooflike surfaces that show numerous small and scattered abrasions typical of an 1870s CC-mint gold coin, yet they are for the most part undistracting and hardly visible without a loupe. The obverse strike is somewhat soft on the lovelock and hair above the ear. On the reverse, weakness appears in the vertical shield stripes, the left shield corner, the fletchings, and the feathers on the eagle's neck and right (facing) wing. However, the star centrils, the upper hair above the coronet, the beaded hair cord and the bun are well brought up, as are the rest of the details on the eagle. The mintmark is quite small and neatly centered between the left (facing) claw and right tip of the fletchings. <BR> This is a coin of consummate rarity. Whether for the lover of rare gold, for specialists in Carson City coins or CC-mint gold, or indeed even to the non-numismatist who desires to obtain a single U.S. coin of the utmost desirability, this piece represents a special prize that should be afforded ample consideration. Census: 7 in 50, 7 finer (5/07).<BR><BR><B>Coin Engraver:</B> Christian Gobrecht<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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