1891-CC Liberty Head Half Eagle. MS-63 (PCGS).

Beautiful rose-orange patina mingles with frosty mint luster on both sides of this sharply struck, highly lustrous example. The Carson City Mint's output of half eagles reached its peak in 1891, and for the second year in a row coinage of this denomination at that facility outstripped that at the Philadelphia Mint. The mintage for the 1891-CC amounted to 208,000 coins, with Rusty Goe reporting, "The coining department turned out 122,000 half eagles in the first half of 1891, and between July and December it delivered another 86,000." Many of these coins were exported, as intended, and repatriations from European vaults in recent decades have provided a windfall of Mint State examples for today's mintmarked type collectors and Carson City Mint enthusiasts. There are even quite a few Choice Uncirculated coins in MS-63 and MS-64 extant, but in Gem Mint State the 1891-CC remains a formidable condition rarity. This vivid, uncommonly smooth Choice example represents excellent value for the astute bidder.

PCGS# 8378. NGC ID: 25Y5.