1870-CC Liberty Head Half Eagle. Winter 1-A, the only known dies. Die State I. EF-45+ (PCGS). CAC.

Offered is one of the finest certified survivors of this historic, popular, rare and conditionally challenging Carson City Mint gold issue. It is a handsome coin displaying rich original honey-rose color and softly frosted mint luster. The strike is commensurate with the Winter Die State I attribution, and we note universally bold to sharp definition and just light wear. Impressively smooth for both the issue and the assigned grade, there are few blemishes of any kind, and certainly no sizable or otherwise individually distracting marks. Far better preserved and infinitely more attractive than the vast majority of survivors, this coin is sure to go into another high quality half eagle cabinet or collection of Carson City Mint coinage. On January 8, 1870, the Carson City Mint officially opened for coinage operations under the direction of Superintendent Abraham "Abe" Curry. The first $5 gold half eagles to bear the distinct CC mintmark of this facility were delivered by Coiner Ezra Staley on March 1 in the amount of 400 coins. By year's end the total mintage for this issue would amount to just 7,675 pieces. In the outstanding reference The Confident Carson City Coin Collector (2020), CC-Mint expert Rusty Goe provides the following monthly breakdown for this mintage: -March = 400 coins -April = 760 coins -May = 730 coins -July = 2,530 coins -September = 530 coins -October = 725 coins -December = 2,000 coins As with all early gold and silver issues from the Carson City Mint, the mintage for the 1870-CC saw immediate use in regional commerce, which would result in a high rate of attrition and correspondingly low rate of survival. Rusty Goe's estimate for the number of coins extant in all grades is just 75 to 95 pieces, the vast majority of which do not exceed Choice VF. Among the rare EF and AU survivors, several are impaired, and few are as richly original and aesthetically pleasing as the Fairmont-Hendricks specimen offered here. An impressive piece worthy of the strongest bids.

PCGS# 8320. NGC ID: 25WA.

PCGS Population: 1; 16 finer, just one of which is Mint State (MS-61). CAC Population: 2; 4.

From the Fairmont Collection-Hendricks Set.

Estimate: $ 55000