1857-C $1.00 PCGS AU55 CAC

Last month I sold a beautiful NGC AU58 CAC example of this date and commented that it had been years since I'd handled an example of this date with totally original surfaces. I was surprised that at the FUN show I was able to find a second unadulterated 1857-C dollar, this one graded AU55 by PCGS and nearly as nice as the one I just sold. It shows the typical irregular planchet seen on nearly all examples with some natural roughness on the edges but the strike is as sharp as on any example I have seen with a full N in UNITED and a sharp 8 in the date. The surfaces are covered with deep green-gold color with some darker hues in the obverse fields. A good amount of luster can be seen as well. In the last five years there have been exactly two PCGS AU55 examples of this date sold at auction: Heritage 1/08: 3684 which brought $6,900 (it was in an old green label holder and it was an AU58 in my opinion) and Heritage 1/07: 5327 which realized $4,083 (it was nice but not as choice as the present example). There are probably fewer than ten 1857-C dollars known that are fully original and this is a rare opportunity for the informed specialist.

1857-C $1.00 NGC AU58 CAC

There are only two Type Three gold dollars from the Charlotte mint: the 1857-C and the 1859-C. The former is less rare in terms of overall rarity but it is much, much harder to find in higher grades. In fact, the 1857-C is excessively rare in Uncirculated (there are only two or three known to me and none are better than MS61) and very rare in properly graded AU58. NGC shows a current population of 35 in AU58 but this includes numerous coins that I grade no better than AU50 to AU53, not to mention resubmissions. The present example is quite possibly the single most original 1857-C dollar that I have seen. It is well struck on what seems to be a broader planchet than usual and it shows superb deep, original green-gold color on the obverse and reverse. The peripheries are very flat and there is some mint-made buckling of the planchet which is common to the issue. The surfaces themselves are just immaculate with no marks of note and quite a bit of luster. In the last five years there have been four auction records for AU58's of this date (all graded by NGC) and they have realized between $6,038 and $6,600. None of those coins could remotely compare to this fresh-to-the-market example. I have handled virtually every known 1857-C dollar in higher grades and I can't remember one that I liked as much as this. An extremely important coin for the advanced collector of gold dollars.