Douglas Winter Numismatics is proud to announce its first Concierge Sale™ of 2021: the Old West Collection of Carson City half dollars. DWN is mostly known for its expertise in better date United States gold coinage, but we are very proficient in Liberty Seated coinage. Doug has collected Seated coins since boyhood, and he holds the impressively low LSCC membership #10.

The collector who assembled this set is a long-time client of DWN and we have sold two of his other sets in Concierge Sales: the Vasquez Rocks Collection of Gold Dollars in 2015, and the Old West Collection of Carson City Double Eagles in 2020.

There are only three sets of Carson City silver coinage which can realistically be completed in Uncirculated grades; the two obvious ones are Trade Dollars and Morgan Dollars. The one which is less obvious and certainly far more challenging is the Liberty Seated half dollar.

A total of 10 half dollars were produced at the Carson City mint. This entailed two distinct design types: The With Motto which began in 1866 and was used through 1873, and again in 1875 through the end of this design in 1891, and the With Arrows type which was struck only in 1873 and 1874.

The first four issues of this type (1870-CC, 1871-CC, 1872-CC, and 1873-CC No Arrows) are well-known rarities in higher grades with Uncirculated survivors numbering in the single digits The two With Arrows issues (1873-CC Arrows and 1874-CC) are also rare in high grades, especially the former. The remaining four issues range from reasonably common in Uncirculated to very rare (the underappreciated 1878-CC).

The Old West Collection contains all 10 issues in PCGS MS61 or finer. It is the second finest set (all-time and current) in the PCGS Registry with an average weighted grade of 62.67. CAC has approved 6 of the 10 coins, and many have been off the market for a decade or more.

Highlights of the collection are as follows:

1870-CC, PCGS MS61
1871-CC, PCGS MS61 CAC
1872-CC, PCGS MS63 CAC, tied for finest known
1873-CC Arrows, PCGS MS65
1876-CC, PCGS MS66 CAC
1878-CC, PCGS MS64

These coins will all be offered on an individual basis by Douglas Winter Numismatics in a special Concierge Sale™ which is expected to go live on the firm’s website (www.raregoldcoins.com) on or around Friday February 5th, 2021.