PO Box 619999
Dallas, TX 75261-6199
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2801 W. Airport Freeway
Dallas, Texas 75261-4127
(Northwest corner of W. Airport Freeway [HWY-183] & Valley View Lane)
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800-USCOINS (872-6467)(214) 528-3500
Fax: (214) 409-1425
Auction Name: 2025 October 2 - 5 GACC US Coins Signature® Auction
Lot Number: 3162
Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/1386*3162
1876 $10 JD-1, R.6, PR64 Ultra Cameo NGC. CAC. Anticipating high collector demand during the nation's centennial year, the Philadelphia Mint struck 45 proof Liberty eagles for collectors in 1876, to accompany a token mintage of 687 business-strikes for circulation. The proofs were delivered in two batches, one of 20 examples on February 19, and the other of 25 pieces on June 13. The proof mintage was quite generous, in the context of the series, but the survival rate was low. PCGS CoinFacts estimates the surviving proof population at just 18 to 22 examples in all grades, while John Dannreuther suspects only 16 to 20 specimens are extant. A single pair of dies was used to strike all the proofs. The reverse die had been used to strike proof eagles since 1866 and shows a triangular die polish spot above the N on the ribbon that makes it possible to distinguish between proofs and prooflike business strikes.
Like other proof gold coins dated 1876, the eagle is in demand due to its historic date as well as due to the low mintage of business strikes. The year 1876 saw a general paucity of gold coins -- gold dollars through eagles -- coined for circulation in the United States; the double eagle was a special case, popular for international banking. As background, Germany's abandonment of a silver standard in favor of a gold standard in 1872 resulted in its dumping of millions of ounces of silver onto the market, reducing the price of silver as compared to gold. Most gold coins, in any case, had not been available in the East and Midwest areas of the United States for nearly 20 years, since the Civil War, and it would be late 1878 before true parity would be achieved between gold, silver, and paper currency, with each circulating freely.
Note the disparity between the Philadelphia circulation-strike mintages of gold coins in 1876: gold dollar 3,200 pieces; quarter eagle 4,176; half eagle 1,432; eagle 687; double eagle 583,860. Bowers points out that the European bankers' fears of a silver standard in the United States resulted in a "vast outflow of double eagles," beginning around 1876.
Given the remarkably low business-strike mintage of 687 pieces for the 1876 eagles, the proof 1876 tens are even more in demand from series specialists. The present near-Gem proof displays strong gold-on-black contrast between fields and devices, fully within the Ultra Cameo designation. The medium honey-gold surfaces show a few light field hairlines, one minuscule tick on Liberty's cheek, and a shallow mark in the right field behind her head, out from stars 12 and 13. A tiny dark spot in the center of the bust truncation provides a pedigree marker. The reverse shows virtually no field marks, just very light hairlining as seen on the obverse, consistent with the grade. The high quality within the grade is confirmed by CAC. Census: 2 in 64 Ultra Cameo, 2 finer. CAC: 1 in 64, 0 finer (8/25).
Ex: FUN Signature (Heritage, 1/2013), lot 5909.
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