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[L#0126] 1877 1c PCGS PF65 Red

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:6,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 14,000.00 USD
[L#0126] 1877 1c PCGS PF65 Red
Since the business strike 1877 is the key to the Indian Cent series, the proof at times represents an important alternative for high quality Mint State date collectors. The present lot offers a lustrous and sharp looking Gem whose surfaces are devoid of blemishes. The color dazzling and vibrant with a reddish-orange sheen plus golden iridescence atop the all-but completely frosted Indian's portrait. There are no areas of bothersome striking incompleteness, in fact, the coin is, without mincing words, a fantastic coin for this desirable Proof 65 grade. The coin is housed in PCGS holder 5584030.

Proof mintage for 1877 is estimated by Breen at "510+" and by The Guide Book of United States Coins at "900+." Whatever the exact figure -- and we may never know for certain -- what is indisputable is that every collector, whether young or old, knows the mystique surrounding this scarce Proof. Total mintage for the year was uncharacteristically low; evidently there were sufficient One-cent pieces left over from previous years sitting in bags in the Treasury's vault that few 1877s were required. Today, whenever a Gem quality 1877 like this appears at auction it generates eager bidding.