The 1880-CC is the second most available of the five half eagles which were made at the Carson City mint during the 1880′s. It is usually seen in EF40-AU50 grades and it is only marginally scarce in AU53 to AU55. In properly graded AU58 it is very scarce and it is quite rare in Uncirculated with maybe 10-12 known.

This very lustrous slider has some light friction on the obverse and a fully Uncirculated reverse which grades at least MS61 to MS62 on its own. It is well struck for the issue and shows attractive light to medium rose-gold and orange hues on both sides. There is a small scrape below star eight on the obverse and a few small ticks consistent with the grade in the fields.

The last PCGS AU58 example of this date to sell at auction was a low end, recolored piece offered as Heritage 4/11: 6535 which went cheaply at $4,888. In January 2009, a pair of much nicer PCGS AU58′s brought $6,038 and $7,245, respectively, at the Stack’s sale.

A decent quality Uncirculated example of this date, if you can find one, will cost at least $11,000-13,000. At half this level, a nice slider such as the present example seems like very good value to me.

CAC has approved three in this grade with none finer.