Lot 4680
1870-CC $5 Liberty. NGC graded AU-55. NGC holder 397368-001. Only 7,675 struck. A popular key date "CC" mint gold coin. Softly struck on the eagle's breast, and a small mark on Liberty's neck. Nice even toning, one can say nothing negative about it since it retains the charming "old gold" look which helps sway bidders to consider posting a bid.
This is the key to a set of Carson City Mint half eagles, and a date highly esteemed by gold connoisseurs for more than a century now. The 1870-CC $5 is rarely offered for sale in any grade. Above Extremely Fine it is a major find, and practically nonexistent in Uncirculated condition. Oddly, the few Mint State pieces known to exist lack eye appeal. The 1870-CC often possesses a weak strike at the eagle's neck down to the shield, and most examples are heavily abraded with marks and nicks. Finding a relatively problem-free specimen like the coin offered here, with better than average strike, is worth a considerable premium.
Carson City's gold coin production got off to a rather inauspicious start in 1870 when minting created only 17,372 half eagles, eagles, and double eagles combined, with a total face value of just $173,235. In comparison, the San Francisco Mint produced over one million gold coins that year with an aggregate face value of nearly $20 million! Bullion deposits were limited to what local miners brought in as Carson City's only duty was to the residents and mining operations in the region. San Francisco's mint had already been open 16 years at the time this half eagle was made. (For a lengthy, well researched account of the Carson Mint, we recommend to readers they acquire a copy of Rusty Goe's The Mint on Carson Street published by Southgate Coins and Collectibles.) The all-important census is as follows: Pop 4; 11 finer, 10 in 58, 1 in 62 (PCGS # 8320) .
Estimated Value $30,000 - 35,000.
|
| |
| Realized $46,000 |
