2017-03-10 Fri

The finest certified Mint State 64 1880-O Coronet gold $10 eagle will be offered at the Rarities Night auction by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, at the Whitman Baltimore Spring Expo on 30th March. The coin was in a PCGS MS-63 holder and was sold for $27,600 in 1999 at Heritage auction. Before that, it was sold at Stack’s in 1988 for $10,450.

Only 9,200 pieces were struck as the New Orleans Mint was mostly used for striking Morgan dollars instead of concentrating on gold coin production in those days. Only 14 Mint State examples exist but the number also includes re-submissions of the same coin. The actual number of surviving coins could be 8 to 10. The coin offered might have been kept separately as there is no evidence that it might have been exchanged with foreign banks.

An MS-60 1854-S Coronet gold eagle will be offered at Rarities Night auction. 123,826 1854-S Coronet double eagles were minted by the San Francisco Mint in that year. Lower grades are more easily found as they were circulated heavily in the western states. The coin has medium-gold tones with pinkish touches and there is no evidence of true friction. It has a thin horizontal scratch and Reverse rim marks.