1883 Liberty Head Gold Eagle NGC PF65 UCAM
Rick Tomaska's Live Auction Featured Coin
Thursday, October 26th, 2023
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- Mintage: 40 (16 to 20 known)
- NGC Population: 2/0
- PCGS Population: 0/0
- Finest Known: PF65 UCAM (2)
- Smithsonian Specimen: PR63DCAM
- Proof gold has long been considered the caviar of numismatics. Usually purchased on a coin-by-coin basis, few have attempted to put together a complete collection of any gold series in a proof finish.
- Technically speaking, the purpose of a proof coin is to display the original design as authentically as possible.
- Historically, at the beginning of a production run proof coins were made to check the quality of the dies being used by striking the planchet multiple times, typically at a slower rate than standard production, leaving the coin with significantly finer detail compared to regular strikes.
- Thus, the term “proof” refers to the manufacturer method. Most proof dies are polished for production, giving parts of the design (most often the field) a shiny mirror-like appearance.
- Famous author and numismatic expert Jeff Garrett, considers United States proof gold coins to be “the epitome of ‘great’ when it comes to numismatics!”
- Although the universally accepted origin date for proof gold coins in the United States is 1821, the U.S. Mint did not begin producing them consistently until they introduced Proof Sets in 1858.
- Therefore, Proof Liberty Head Gold Eagles produced between 1838 and 1858 are virtually non-existent, with only a handful or fewer examples minted for each date.
- In 1859, mintage figures climbed to 80 coins that year and throughout the remainder of the series Proof Liberty Head Gold Eagles were struck in extremely low numbers with less than 125 pieces minted annually.
- All-in-all, fewer than 3,000 Proof Liberty Head Gold Eagles were struck during the series lifetime between 1838 and 1907, as most dates failed to reach a mintage of 100 examples.
- The present example is tied with one other NGC PF65 UCAM example for finest known through either service!
