1879-S $20 MS61 PCGS....

Description

Mint State 1879-S Double Eagle

1879-S $20 MS61 PCGS. The year 1879 was a historic one at the U.S. Mint, with two deaths and two widely contrasting mintages. Mint Director Henry R. Linderman died in office at age 53, after a career riddled with shenanigans and improprieties. Mint Chief Engraver William Barber also died, after a vacation at the beach. (It would be four months before his disliked son Charles would finally be named as his replacement.) The last New Orleans Mint double eagles were struck, to the tune of a measly 2,325 coins, while the 1879-S twenties saw a prodigious production of nearly 1.23 million coins, perhaps in anticipation of the achieving of "parity" between gold, silver, and paper currency for the first time in decades. This lustrous orange-gold piece has numerous abrasions that dot the surfaces, some of them heavy, explaining the grade. Considerable appeal is present, however, and the reverse is somewhat prooflike.
From The Atherton Family Collection.(Registry values: N1793)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 26B9, PCGS# 8991, GSID# 9932)

Metal: 90% Gold, 10% Copper
Weight: 33.44 grams
AGW: 0.9675oz
Melt Value: $1,100.05
Gold Spot: $1,137/oz (01-08-2010)
Mintage: 1,233,800

Note for clients in the European Union: This lot is considered by the European Union to be “investment gold”. We believe that it meets the criteria established in Article 344(1), point (2) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC and thus should be exempt from import VAT regardless of the selling price. Any questions or concerns about VAT should be addressed to your accountant or local tax authority.

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