1881-CC Liberty Head Half Eagle. Winter 1-A, the only known dies. AU Details--Graffiti (PCGS).

Pleasing, original surfaces exhibit warm honey-apricot color throughout. A concentration of wispy scratches in the left reverse field explains the PCGS qualifier, but we stress that these are faint and the in hand appearance for both sides is quite smooth. Among the rarest of the Carson City Mint half eagles and the rarest of those from the 1880s, only 13,886 coins were struck for the 1881-CC as compared to the more than 5.7 million struck at Philadelphia in 1881. A single pair of dies was employed for the entire run, managing to turn out just 5,640 half eagles before the facility was shut down on April 1. When the doors finally reopened in November, mint personnel were able to coin an additional 8,246 examples of the denomination before the end of the year. The survival rate is a bit better than in previous years, but not by much. Scarcely more than a hundred or so are thought to remain in numismatic circles presently (Rusty Goe, 2020, states 115 to 150 pieces), almost all of which are in lower degrees of preservation, generally clustered in and around the VF and EF mark. Our offering of this scarce AU survivor represents an opportunity that should not be passed on lightly.

PCGS# 8356. NGC ID: 25XE.

From the Fairmont Collection.

Estimate: $ 2500