1878-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle. AU-58 (PCGS).
A beautiful example with subtle pinkish-rose highlights on dominant golden-orange color. The surfaces are lustrous, frosty and exceptionally well preserved for an issue that is almost always offered in lower circulated grades. Sharply to fully struck. The mintage of double eagles at the Carson City facility dropped from 42,565 in 1877 to 13,180 in 1878. Writing in 1988, specialist David Akers noted, "The 1878-CC is a rare date in all grades; in fact, it is the fourth rarest CC-Mint Double Eagle, just nosing out the lower mintage 1879-CC. Virtually all known specimens grade in the F to EF grades and a strictly graded AU is a rarity." Doug Winter and Jim Halperin corroborate this assessment, ranking this issue fourth in rarity out of the 19 Carson City double eagles in their reference The Gold Coins of the Carson City Mint (2001). The most modern scholarship on the issue is that provided by Rusty Goe in his 2020 reference The Confident Carson City Coin Collector, in which he provides an estimate of 475 to 550 survivors in all grades. Only seven to 10 of those are Mint State (again per Goe), and appearances at this level are understandably few and very far between under normal market conditions. The offered coin from the Fairmont Collection's JBR Set is a desirable Choice AU alternative -- rare in its own right -- that is sure to see spirited bidding among advanced CC-Mint and/or double eagle collectors.
PCGS# 8986. NGC ID: 26B4.
PCGS Population: 20; 7 finer (MS-62+ finest).
From the Fairmont Collection - JBR Set.