1879-O $20 MS(PCGS#8990)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

3180

Erhaltungsgrad

MS63

Preis

264.000

Losbeschreibung

Unrivalled and unsurpassed Select Mint State preservation for this New Orleans Mint double eagle, a key date issue that is elusive even in circulated grades. Both sides are sharply struck with full detail throughout the design. Vivid, even color in honey-olive blankets surfaces that are lustrous and frosty. We note only wispy handling marks, the in-hand appearance exceptionally smooth for the assigned grade, and the eye appeal outstanding in all regards.<p>Alone among New Orleans Mint double eagles of the Type III Liberty Head design type, the 1879-O was produced upon the reopening of the New Orleans Mint after its forced closure at the onset of the Civil War. The reason for this mintage is unknown, as the government's primary purpose in reopening the New Orleans facility in 1879 was to aid in the production of Morgan silver dollars. The 1879-O double eagle may have been produced simply to mark the historic resumption of coinage in New Orleans, a theory that gains support when we consider than the mintage of this issue is a token 2,325 pieces.<p>Regardless of exactly why they were produced, many examples of the 1879-O were exported alongside other double eagles of the era as part of international transactions. Fewer than 150 coins are extant, generally in EF or AU, and mostly thanks to repatriations from foreign bank hoards in recent decades. With such a limited number of examples known, the 1879-O is obviously a leading rarity in the Southern gold series. Doug Winter (2025) ranks this issue sixth in rarity among New Orleans Mint double eagles after the 1856-O, 1854-O, 1855-O, 1859-O and 1860-O. The present example is the single finest certified and included in the 2025 Winter census (published in the fifth edition of his <em>Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909</em>). It is a stunning absolute and condition rarity that will have no difficulty finding its way into the finest collection of Liberty Head double eagles or New Orleans Mint gold coinage currently being assembled.