EXTREMELY RARE AU 1873 EAGLE

Closed 3; as are all for this issue.

The 1873 is the third rarest Philadelphia Liberty Head eagle after the exceedingly rare 1875 and the 1863. There were only 800 business strikes produced and the number of 1873 eagles known is likely in the area of 25-35 pieces, mostly in the EF40 to AU53 range. I have seen very few which had any sort of positive eye appeal; most 1873 eagles are very heavily abraded and show zero in the way of originality.

This is only the second 1873 eagle which I have had in stock in over a decade and it is the single best example that I can recall having owned in three decades of specializing in this series. It is technically an AU55 to AU58 coin which has been net graded as an AU53 by PCGS due to some marks on the surfaces, most notably a shallow vertical abrasion on the cheek of Liberty. This coin has a nice, natural appearance with great eye appeal for the date. The color is a pleasing medium russet and there is a ton of mint luster remaining.

No PCGS AU53 1873 eagle has ever sold and only two graded AU55 by PCGS have ever crossed the block; the nicer one of these brought $55,813 as Heritage 1/14: 5493 and it showed questionable coloration.

This is an extremely important coin which should find a home in a world-class set of Liberty Head eagles.

Ex Stacks Bowers 2016 ANA: 3336 (as PCGS AU50) where it sold for $32,900; earlier Lot 2439 in the Heritage 11/05 sale where it brought $13,800 (also as PCGS AU50).