1878-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle. AU-55 (NGC).

This handsome example exhibits vivid rose-honey color to surfaces that retain ample mint luster in a softly frosted texture. The detail is bold to sharp throughout the design, and the eye appeal is superior for a CC-Mint twenty that saw light commercial use. 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. The coin offered here is certainly finer than most.

PCGS# 8986. NGC ID: 26B4.

Estimate: $19500