1878-CC 50C MS(PCGS#6359)

The August 2013 Chicago ANA World's Fair of Money

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

4244

等级

MS65

价格

252,162

详细说明

Gorgeous MS-65 1878-CC Liberty Seated Half Dollar Tied for Finest Certified at PCGS 1878-CC Liberty Seated Half Dollar. WB-101, Die Pair WB-1, the only known dies. Rarity-4. MS-65 (PCGS). CAC. The offered coin is the last year in which silver coins of denominations less than a dollar were struck at Carson City. The present Gem is memorable and represents and exceedingly important opportunity. The fully lustrous obverse and reverse are graced by light tawny-gold toning. The strike is sharp on Liberty's head and her dress folds, and the eagle and its claws are sharp as well. This handsome example of this date and mint is far nicer than the vast majority that survive today. Tied with at most four others as the finest seen by PCGS at the Gem level. As noted by Rusty Goe, an authority on Carson City Mint history who contributed extensively to The Battle Born Collectionwe offered last summer in our ANA World's Fair of Money auction: "In 1877 the California and the Consolidated Virginia mines in Storey County, Nevada reported a combined yield of nearly $32.65 million in gold and silver ore. In 1876, these two mines had extracted slightly more than $30 million worth of ore from their 10 acre parcel in the heart of Virginia City's mining district. In 1878, the yield would decrease to $19 million, still a respectable showing. but obviously an operation in decline. Further proof of this came in 1879, when the two powerhouse companies tallied slightly more than $5 million. After that, the most romantic era in the U.S. mining history lost all its momentum." "Yet even if the Comstock's incomparable riches were inexhaustible, and even if the Carson City Mint continued to receive it reduced ration of those riches, what would it do with the silver portion of them after the cessation of the Specie Resumption Act provisions that required surplus supplies of subsidiary coins? The Treasury Department had announced it had stockpiles of small change and that the mints would cease making dimes, quarters and half dollars after February 28, 1878." "The Carson Mint struck 62,000 1878-CC half dollars in February, the lone output for the denomination that year. They would be packed up and shipped to other parts of the country along with the dimes and quarters that the coiners delivered in January and February. The era of Liberty Seated coinage struck at the Carson Mint ended." "In correlation with many of the other silver issues produced at the Carson City Mint from 1870 to 1878, only a fraction of one percent of the 62,000 1878-CC half dollars survive today. In Mint State condition, examples of this date are extremely rare. You can count the number of Gem quality specimens on one hand." PCGS# 6359. Provenance: From the Richard Jewell Collection. Earlier from Kagin's Sale of the '70s, November 1973, lot 1084; and our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the James Bennett Pryor Collection, January 1996, lot 236. PCGS Population: just 5; none finer.