1873 G$1 Open 3 MS68 PCGS Secure. CAC....

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1873 Open 3 Gold Dollar, MS68
From the David Akers Collection
The Sole Finest Graded

1873 G$1 Open 3 MS68 PCGS Secure. CAC. Ex: Duckor/Akers. The fields of this lovely Superb Gem 1873 Open 3 gold dollar are fully reflective, framing the frosty luster of the boldly defined design motifs. The brilliant yellow surfaces host delicate blue overtones.

Variety and Die State: Breen-6090. Open 3 date logotype. Partial LIBERTY. Only a few letters of LIBERTY are faintly visible on the headband. A long vertical die line extends down the neck from the earlobe to the bottom of the bust, with a projection noted below the bust.

Population (6/15): This example is the only MS68 at PCGS, and none are finer. The finest at NGC is a single MS67.

Commentary: The Closed 3 or Close 3 coins were struck early in the year, before new dies were prepared with an Open 3 logotype. The change occurred in most denominations after the Mint received complaints that the initial 1873 date looked more like 1878. The exact mintages of the two varieties remain unknown, although 125,100 circulation strike gold dollars were coined during the year. The combined PCGS and NGC population data shows a total of 4,204 1873 gold dollars submitted to the two services. The total includes 195 (4.64%) Closed 3 coins, and 4,009 (95.36%) Open 3. If those totals reflect the original mintage, then there were approximately 5,800 Closed 3 coins and 119,300 Open 3 coins minted. Harry X Boosel estimated 1,800 for the Closed 3, and Dave Bowers suggests 3,500 to 5,000. The latter figure seems about right, given an unknown rate of resubmission.

Douglas Winter Commentary: Varieties of the 1873 gold dollar exist with an Open 3 and a Closed 3; the latter is many times scarcer. The 1873 Open 3 is common in grades up to MS65 and is seen from time to time in MS66. However, Superb Gems are extremely rare, and I know of only two: an MS67 PCGS-CAC piece that brought $11,750 as lot 4446 in the April 2013 Heritage Central States sale, and the finest known Duckor coin that was once in David Akers' personal collection of gold dollars.

The Duckor coin is semiprooflike but clearly a business strike, a coin easily recognizable by its pleasing pale purple-gold color on the obverse.

A number of distinct die varieties and die states are known for the 1873 Open 3 gold dollar. This example has a distinctive long die scratch on Liberty's neck, and only the L and a portion of the I in LIBERTY showing clearly on the headband.

Provenance: Purchased from David Akers.
From The Duckor Family Collection of Gold Dollars.(Registry values: N1)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 25DB, PCGS# 7573, Greysheet# 8035)

Weight: 1.67 grams

Metal: 90% Gold, 10% Copper

View all of [The Duckor Family Collection of Gold Dollars ]

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