1850 $20 MS(PCGS#8902)

December 2025 Showcase Auction - The James A. Stack, Sr. Collection Part I

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

20016

等级

MS62+

价格

288,223

详细说明

A fitting opening to the remarkable double eagle offerings from the James A. Stack, Sr. Collection, this premium Mint State coin offers significant condition rarity for the first year 1850. The beautiful surfaces display light golden-olive color and strong mint luster that is frosty in texture with decided semi-reflectivity in the fields. The strike is equally impressive with razor sharp to full definition at most design elements, none of which are less than boldly rendered. While there are light hairlines, as well as a few stray scuffs in the expansive obverse field, these features are well within the context of the assigned grade. They are also minimally distracting during in-hand viewing, which presents a pleasing, smooth, near-Select Mint State coin that offers superior quality and eye appeal.<p>The 1850 is the first regular issue double eagle from the Philadelphia Mint. This denomination, the highest that the United States Mint has ever produced for circulation, was authorized by the Act of March 3, 1849, to serve as a storehouse and convenient medium of exchange for the vast quantities of gold discovered and mined during the California Gold Rush. Indeed, during the earliest years of the double eagle series unprecedented quantities of gold were shipped from California to the eastern United States to be minted into coins at the Philadelphia and, to a lesser extent, New Orleans mints.<p>Using the Liberty Head design by Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre, the Philadelphia Mint produced 1,170,261 circulation strike double eagles in 1850. This issue saw extensive commercial use with worn survivors in grades such as VF and EF readily available. Persistent buyers will usually be able to locate an attractive AU without too much difficulty, but Mint State coins are rare and seldom encountered in any given year of market activity. There was little, if any, contemporary interest in saving high grade examples of this first year issue, and what few Uncirculated coins have survived appear to have done so as a matter of chance. Douglas Winter and Adam Crum account for 25 to 50 (or perhaps a few more) Mint State survivors in their 2002 reference <em>An Insider's Guide to Collecting Type I Double Eagles</em>, an estimate that squares nicely with the range of 30 to 50 put forth by Q. David Bowers in his 2004 <em>Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins</em>. Regardless of the exact number of such pieces in numismatic hands, demand for Uncirculated 1850 double eagles far exceeds supply, the difference between the two becoming ever more pronounced as more advanced collectors enter the market. Our offering of this handsome PCGS MS-62+ example represents a significant opportunity that will surely generate considerable interest.