As with all of the Carson City eagles from this era, the 1876-CC is a scarce coin in all grades. A total of just 4,696 were produced of which probably fewer than 100 are known today, mostly in the VF-EF range. This is an issue that is exceedingly hard to find with original color and choice surfaces.

This example barely (and I mean barely!) misses hitting the EF40 mark and this is more on account of some typical lightness of strike at the centers as opposed to actual wear. The surfaces are exceptionally clean with just a few old ticks visible in the fields. The color is a pleasing medium to deep orange-gold which is “right” for this issue; some russet accents float in the fields and add good visual appeal.

There have been three auction records for VF35 examples of this date (all the same coin!) and the prices realized have ranged from a low of $5,175 to a high of $5,750; the most recent sale was Stack’s Bowers 5/13: 2530 where it brought $5,584.

Collector quality examples of the rare 1870′s Carson City eagles are seldom offered for sale and this example makes a lot of sense for the collector who doesn’t want to spend five-figures for an EF example which will only be marginally finer than this nice Choice VF.