United States 1877-CC 20 dollars
This specimen was lot 753 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €8,500 (about US$11,027 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"VEREINIGTE STAATEN VON AMERIKA / USA, 20 Dollars 1877, CC, Carson City. Liberty. 30,09 g Feingold. Mit Motto: "IN GOD WE TRUST". In US-Plastikholder der NGC mit der Bewertung AU 55 (6515810-006). GOLD. RR Fast vorzüglich. (United States of America, twenty dollars of 1877, Carson City mint, Liberty head, with motto. Graded NGC AU55. Very rare, about extremely fine.)
Von den nur 42.565 geprägten Stücken wurden viele zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts wieder eingeschmolzen. Besonders gut erhaltene Exemplare sind unter den generell wenigen überlieferten Stücken kaum zu finden. (Many of the once struck 42,565 pieces were melted down at the beginning of the twentieth century, so that only a few examples have survived. Within those surviving pieces it is extremely difficult for the collectors to find well preserved specimens.)"
After the Civil War, paper currency began to displace coins for large transactions and gold coins spent most of their lives in vaults. As a result, survivors may be bagmarked but rarely come heavily worn. This represents the first year of the final variation on the Liberty Head $20, where the denomination is spelled out "TWENTY DOLLARS".
Recorded mintage: 42,565, a uncommon date that usually comes well circulated.
Specification: 516 grains (33.436 grams), 1 1/3" (34 millimeters) diameter, 90% gold, silver not over 5%, rest copper; reeded edge.
Catalog reference: KM 74.3, Fr-179.
- Alexander, David T., Coin World Comprehensive Catalog & Encyclopedia of United States Coins, Sidney, OH: Amos Press, 1995.
- Breen, Walter H., Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U. S. and Colonial Coins, New York: Doubleday, 1987.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Yeoman, R. S., and Kenneth Bressett (ed.), A Guide Book of United States Coins, 65th Ed., Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing, 2011.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 400: Selected löser of the Dukes of Guelph from the Friedrich Popken Collection | Numismatic treasures from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. "multiple portraits" from a Westphalian private collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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