1879 $20.00 PCGS MS62

After many years of not handling an example of this date in MS62, this is the second I have had in around a month. The last one, graded by PCGS and approved by CAC, sold quickly and received multiple orders. This example is comparable with nice surfaces, good luster and pleasing natural green-gold, rose and orange color. As a date, the 1879 is seldom seen above MS62 and there is a huge price jump to the next grade as an accurately graded PCGS MS63 is worth in the area of $17,500. If I were doing a date set of Type Three $20 Libs, I would stick with a nice MS62 and use the $10,000+ I saved towards more coins!

1879 $5.00 NGC PR64+ CAM

Only 30 Proofs were struck. Given the fact that just eight auction records for Proofs have been noted since 2000, it likely that as few as ten or so are known to exist with only two or three of these being Gems. This superbly toned example has a reddish-orange obverse with some pale ice-blue splashes at the center; the reverse has really neat color with more even rich orange-gold shades framed by a concentric ring of pale blue. There is almost enough contrast to call this coin an Ultra Cameo and a Gem grade is removed solely by the presence of some light lines in the left obverse field; the reverse is superb. The last Gem Proof 1879 half eagle to sell was Goldberg 5/06: 4439 (graded PR65 CAM by PCGS) that sold for $60,375. Rare, important and absolutely beautiful!

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.