This date tends to be overlooked due to the extreme rarity of the 1881-1886 Philadelphia double eagles but it is very scarce in its own right. There were 51,420 business strikes produced and survivors tend to be found in the AU grades. The 1880 is very scarce in properly graded MS60 to MS61 and rare in MS62 and above. The finest I know of is an exceptionally clean PCGS MS63 which brought $25,300 back in Heritage’s 2005 FUN sale.

This piece is scuffy but it is absolutely free of wear. Unlike most 1880 double eagles, it has not been dipped and both sides display nice deep yellowish-gold color with slightly deeper hues on the relief details. There are very few marks which actually break deep into the fields and the overall eye appeal is far above average for the date an grade.

The last PCGS MS60 1880 double eagle to sell at auction was Heritage 10/12: 6247 (approved by CAC and a virtual twin to the coin offered here) which brought $7,638. Heritage 4/13: 6025, graded MS61 by NGC but dipped and showing signs of friction in the fields, realized $14,100.

It would be difficult to find a nicer example of this date and I feel that the 1880 is one of the most undervalued of all Type Three double eagles.