Only 51 were struck; there are fewer than two dozen known today with most in the PR63-PR64 range.

Never was the cliché “size matters” more true than when it comes to Proof Gold. Collectors love big, bright gold coins and in the rarified world of Proof Gold, nothing is more sought-after than a double eagle; especially one with Deep Cameo or Ultra Cameo contrast. These coins come at a steep price and, for most collectors, a Gem Proof is out of the question. This males a high end PR64DCAM, such as the present example, extremely desirable.

As a date, Proof 1895 double eagles are more rare than their small mintage of 51 would suggest. The American economy in 1895 was tentatively recovery after the Panic of 1893 but still not enough so that all but a few ultra-wealthy collectors could afford to order a Proof double eagle from this mint. This meant that some were melted and others were mishandled when they left standard numismatic channels. And it appears that the quality of Proofs for this year was not as good as on 1893 or 1894 and fewer examples are seen with a full cameo contrast.

This borderline Gem has a wonderful naked-eye appearance. It has never been cleaned or processed and has no dense hairlines. Liberty’s cheek is fully rounded and nicely contrasted by the deep fields; the appearance is strongly “black and white” as you would want it to be on a large-sized gold proof. A tiny mark to the left of the 1 in the date is possibly mint-made and serves as ready identification; a tiny lintmark between the tops of star six and seven is clearly mint-made.

The only Deep Cameo 1895 double eagle to sell at auction in recent years is ex Heritage 4/12: 5353. Graded PR65UC by NGC, it brought $94,875. It was not approved by CAC. As a date, there are jut three auction appearance for 1895 double eagles since October 2008.

A PCGS/CAC PR65DCAM example of this date, if available, might bring more than $125,000 if offered for sale. To my way of thinking, this PR64 represents good value at more than $50,000 less and it would be a great addition to a type collection of United States Proof Gold coinage.

CAC has approved 1 DCAM in PR64 and 1 finer (PR65). For the date, they have approved six in total with just one coin grading higher than PR64.