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1872 $20 PR64 Deep Cameo NGC. It seems to this catalog 1872[$20] PR64 Deep Cameo NGC.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1872 $20 PR64 Deep Cameo NGC. It seems to this catalog 1872[$20] PR64 Deep Cameo NGC.
<B>1872<$20> PR64 Deep Cameo NGC.</B></I> Profoundly contrasted with yellow-gold mirrored surfaces of illimitable depth and excellent strength of detail. Although the desirability of this rare specimen is not noticeably diminished, a few wispy hairlines are clustered in the field to the left of the portrait. Trivial luster grazes are also noted in the area of Liberty's mouth along with a paper-thin blemish over her curls to the right of the ear. The total sum of these distractions has kept it from Gem status, but has hardly affected the coin's considerable aesthetic appeal.<BR> It seems to this cataloger that the overall rarity of proof gold coinage from the late 19th century and early 20th century creates an undeserved complacency for those earlier issues that are seen with even less frequency. An excellent illustration of this is the proof 1872 Double Eagle. The Philadelphia Mint was still finding customers for the fledgling proof gold coin market hard to come by in 1872. Well healed buyers with a strong interest in numismatics were reliable, but few. Perhaps more understandably, twenty dollars was at this time more money than the average American made working a 60-hour week. It is little wonder that this issue's mintage of 30 proofs is roughly the average for the entire decade. Lack of proper numismatic maintenance and ensuing hard times would cause the number of unimpaired survivors to dwindle even further. So it is with a great deal of enthusiasm that we present this rare 1870s proof twenty, one of perhaps fewer than a dozen unimpounded survivors and the first we have ever offered through auction. Census: 2 in 64 Deep Cameo, 0 finer (11/05).