In February 2020, I purchased an important Condition Census 1879-CC eagle from the Jacobson Collection sale conducted by Heritage. Housed in a PCGS AU58 holder, this coin cost me $55,200.

When I purchased the coin, I believed it was a really good deal and that it would sell quickly at a modest 15% markup (and a 100% transparent write-up on my site which named the sale it was purchased out of and my exact cost). Instead, it took nearly nine months to sell.

I believe the buyer of this coin got an excellent deal on an extremely important coin. Here are some quick thoughts.

When I first got really serious about Carson City gold (around 1984-85), I quickly learned how rare the eagles from the 1870s were, especially in higher grades. Back then, grading standards were really tough on these coins, and for an 1870s eagle to grade AU55 and finer (what I regard as “high grade” for these issues), the coin had to be pretty impressive.

As I learned the market, it quickly became apparent that the 1870-CC was the rarest eagle in the series and for a long time I regarded it as a rarer coin than the similarly-dated double eagle (it’s not…). Coming in second was the 1879-CC; an issue with the lowest mintage figure of any Carson City gold coin, and a genuinely scarce issue in any grade.

Fast forward three decades and the 1879-CC has lost some of the cachet it used to have. Today, collectors regard the 1873-CC and the 1877-CC more highly than the 1879-CC; despite the fact that the 1879-CC is clearly rarer from the standpoint of overall rarity.

Let’s look at PCGS populations for the six scarcest Carson City eagles:

    DATE
    # GRADED AU55
AND ABOVE
    TOTAL
GRADED
  


    1870-CC
    3
    53
  

    1872-CC
    8
    70
  

    1873-CC
    2
    56
  

    1877-CC
    4
    61
  

    1878-CC
    9
    67
  

    1879-CC
    5
    46
  

From this chart, we can determine that the 1879-CC lays claim to the rarest CC eagle at least in terms of total number graded (there are a number of low grade 1870-CC eagles known which inflates this date’s overall population). The 1873-CC is also almost as rare as the 1870-CC. However, the status of the 1870-CC as a first-year-of-issue will always make it a higher priced coin than the 1873-CC or the 1879-CC.

What I find very interesting are the number of coins graded AU55 or finer for each of these issues. PCGS has graded just two 1873-CC eagles in very high grades: one each in AU55 and AU58. This makes it narrowly rarer in this range than the 1870-CC (three graded), the 1877-CC (four graded), and the 1879-CC (five graded). But as you can see, very little separates these four issues when it comes to coins graded AU55 and finer.

Now let’s take a look at the PCGS Price Guide for each of these dates in AU55 and in AU58:

    DATE
    AU55/PCGS
VALUE
    AU58/PCGS
VALUE
  


    1870-CC
    $150,000
    Unpriced
  

    1872-CC
    $42,500
    $70,000
  

    1873-CC
    $75,000
    $97,500
  

    1877-CC
    $65,000
    $105,000
  

    1878-CC
    $50,000
    $80,000
  

    1879-CC
    $62,500
    $75,000
  

One thing that stands out for me about these numbers is the fact that the 1879-CC—with a population of just two coins in AU58 and none finer—appears clearly underpriced in AU58. In 2019, I sold the only known PCGS AU58 example of the 1873-CC eagle in a deal where it was figured at close to $100,000, and the finest known 1877-CC (a nice NGC AU58) brought slightly over $100,000 in the Heritage 2/2018 sale. Given those two prices, the 1879-CC should be an $85,000-90,000 in AU58.

My congratulations to the new owner of the aforementioned 1879-CC eagle. You bought a great coin at a great price!