1879 $20.00 PCGS MS62 CAC

As with its San Francisco counterpart of this year, the 1879 Philadelphia double eagle is a date that is very scarce in properly graded MS62 and very rare in MS63. I doubt if more than a dozen properly graded MS63's are known (and this number might actually be on the high side) and the last two examples that have traded (both encapsulated by PCGS) brought $17,250 in the Stack's Bowers 11/11 auction. The present example is one of the nicest MS62 1879 double eagles known and it is one of only two approved by CAC in this grade with just one finer. It is frosty and original with nice light orange-gold and rose color atop surprisingly clean surfaces. The 1879-P is an issue that tends to come with excessive abrasions and this piece has just a few small marks clustered in the left obverse field. At around one-third the price of an MS63 example, this 1879 double eagle seems like exceptional value to me.