Rusty Goe, owner of Southgate Coins in Reno, purchases a key date in the "CC" $20 gold piece series. Read more to see which one...
Finest-Known 1871-CC $20 Gold
Sets New Price Record
Reno coin dealer and Carson City coin specialist Rusty Goe captured the NGC-graded MS-64 1871-CC gold double eagle for $414,000 in Heritage’s Central States sale on April 17. Goe, the author of two books on the Carson City Mint and the president and founder of the Carson City Coin Collectors of America, reported that this established a new price record for this specimen.
Goe said that he unsuccessfully bid on this coin when it was in an NGC MS-63 holder at Heritage’s Pittsburgh ANA sale in August 2004. Thirteen months later, in September 2005, this same coin (now in an NGC MS-64 holder) failed to meet the reserve of approximately $400,000 in an Ira and Larry Goldberg Pre-Long Beach sale.
Market conditions have radically changed in the two-and-a-half-year period between the Goldberg’s sale and now, said Goe. “Carson City gold coins are on more want lists than ever,” says Goe, “especially low-population examples.”
The 1871-CC (Mintage: 17,387) is the second rarest date in the “CC” double eagle series, and Goe estimates that no more than 260 examples (not including damaged pieces) have survived. The combined population between PCGS and NGC is 264, although Goe points out that resubmissions of the same coins account for a least a small percentage of that total. In Mint State condition this date is extremely scarce, with none in this range graded by PCGS, and only five specimens listed in NGC’s census report. Of NGC’s Mint State total, two are listed as MS-60, two are MS-61, and one MS-64.
Goe says that “CC” gold double eagles in general are extremely scarce in the MS-64 grade. Only six examples have received this rating (none higher) between PCGS and NGC (1 – 1871-CC, 2 – 1875-CC, 1 – 1876-CC, 1 – 1889-CC, and 1 – 1893-CC).
A combined original mintage of 864,179 spanned 19 dates in the “CC” double eagle series, and Goe estimates that no more than 25,000 to 27,000 have survived. “When you contemplate these quantities and you realize that only six coins from this series are rated as high as MS-64, the rarity of such pieces as the 1871-CC boggles your mind,” reflects Goe.
For more information contact Southgate Coins.