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Old Green Label Holder, CAC Gold Sticker. By today's standards, this coin grades AU53 to AU55. Lustrous with splashes of light yellow-gold color. It is pretty amazing that this coin was ever graded EF45 as it shows little in the way of wear! A pleasing example of this somewhat available Type Two san Francisco issue.
Old Green Label Holder. By today's standards this coin grades AU50 to AU53 but there are a few noticeable mint-made grease stains on the right obverse. Light yellow-gold color covers very lustrous surfaces. This is a tougher date than many collectors realize although it sells for virtually no premium over a common Type Two issue in this grade.
This unheralded issue is actually one of the rarest Liberty Head quarter eagles of any date. Only 2,823 were struck and just four dozen or so are known with most in the VF to EF range and characterized by extremely poor eye appeal. This fresh-to-the-market example is one of just a handful of 1842 quarter eagles that I have seen with natural color and choice surfaces. Both the obverse and the reverse show deep green-gold color and there is a considerable amount of dirt within the recesses of the reverse lettering. The surfaces are clean and choice while the level of eye appeal is as high as for any EF example of this date that I have seen or handled. There are only five auction records for EF45 1842 quarter eagles since 1991 (three PCGS coins and two NGC coins) and the last record is Heritage 1/08: 3826 that sold for $4,888. If this were a Charlotte or Dahlonega quarter eagle in this grade of comparable rarity it would be a five figure coin or close to it. An exceptional piece for the savvy collector.
A well-detailed example with enough luster seen to suggest a slightly higher grade. This date should bring a much higher premium over the more common 1875-CC than it currently does.
How's this for value: a coin with a mintage of just 8,350, with only two auction records for PCGS 45's since 2000 and with a PCGS population of nine with eight higher for less than $1,500? If that isn't tempting enough, take a look at the image of this coin as it has a great "Euro" look with dark natural and a two-tone appearance.
While not as rare and undervalued as its eagle counterpart, the 1877-CC half eagle is a scarce issue that is often overlooked when collectors discuss the tough CC dates from this decade. There were 8,680 struck and most of the surviving examples are well-worn. This piece is among the few that I have seen with natural color and surfaces. The obverse and reverse show rich medium russet color with some red and green undertones and darker hues towards the borders. The fields are unusually clean with no marks of note and the detail is better than expected with especially sharp feathers seen on the wingtips and legs. The last NGC EF45 example of this date to sell at auction was Heritage 4/12: 6621 which brought $5,175; the example I offer here is far more original and it shows much better overall eye appeal.
Affordable, collector-grade gold dollars from Charlotte are hard to find for two reasons: they generally didn't circulate enough to be worn down to the EF grade range and their small size meant that their chance to survive this long in circulation was far less than, say, a half eagle. This is a wholesome, original example with nice even green-gold color that shows some light orange accents in the fields. A small rough patch in the upper left obverse field appears to be mint-made. Only two PCGS EF45 examples of this issue have appeared at auction since 2006.
CAC has approved just one in this grade with six better. From the RYK Collection.
The 1877-CC is almost as rare as the more highly-touted 1878-CC eagle and it is actually not all that far behind the 1879-CC. I believe that the total known is in the range of 50-60 coins and many of these are in lower grades. The present example is among the more original 1877-CC eagles that I have seen and it is uncommonly choice for the grade with nice color and enough remaining luster to make a strong claim for the AU50 level. A few ticks can be seen in the fields but none are detracting and the overall level of eye appeal is extremely high. I have long believed that this date is highly undervalued and touted it as such as far back as the late 1980's when I wrote the first edition of my book on Carson City gold. In the recent June Long Beach sale, Heritage sold a PCGS Fine-15 example of this date (I graded it VF25) for an amazing $6,325. It hardly seems right that a Choice EF should be worth less than twice as much but that's the current pricing status of the 1877-CC eagle.
CAC has approved two examples of this date in EF45 and none finer. Only two have been approved for the entire issue.
A pleasing, affordable Civil War double eagle with fewer marks and more luster than one might expect for the assigned grade.
