$20 1884-CC Liberty Head Gold Double Eagle PCGS MS61
$20 1884-CC Liberty Head Gold Double Eagle PCGS MS61
- Mintage: 81,139
- NGC Population: 171/57
- PCGS Population: 214/115
- CU Price Guide: $15,000
- Finest Known: MS63 (18)
- Smithsonian Specimen: MS60
- In the past decade, a MS63 example has traded roughly a handful of times for an average price realized of approximately $80,000!
- In 1863, Congress passed legislation to construct the new U.S. branch mint in Carson City, Nevada.
- Three years would pass before assembly of the new mint began and under lead designer Alfred Mullet, who would later design the famous Granite Lady building of the San Francisco Mint, the Carson City Mint finally stood tall in 1869.
- Production began in 1870, with both silver and gold coins. The Carson City Mint remained operational through 1885, when there was a temporary shut down for four years due to political reasons under the Democratic administration led by President Grover Cleveland.
- Coin pressing machines were fired back up in 1889, but as the Comstock Lode continued to dry up there was less of a need for the Carson City Mint and in 1893, coining operation ceased indefinitely.
- By 1899, the Carson City Mint’s formal mint status was rescinded, and the building was used as an assay office until 1933. Eventually the former branch mint was repurposed in 1941, to be used as the Nevada State Museum, which it remains today.
- The word “rare” loses its meaning when discussing Carson City gold. All Carson City gold is completely and utterly rare.
- In total just under 1.9 million gold coins were struck at the Nevada Mint while operational between 1870 to 1893.
- In 1925 alone the Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver Mints struck approximately 3 million double eagles each.
- No other branch mint that struck ten-dollar gold eagles produced fewer gold coins across all denominations ($2.5, $5, $10 & $20) than the Carson City Mint.
- For comparison, the New Orleans Mint had the next lowest production figures from a branch mint, in which approximately 6.5 million gold coins were struck in total. Three times that of the Wild West Mint in Nevada.
