1868-S $20 MS(PCGS#8954)

Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

6398

Erhaltungsgrad

MS61

Preis

6.600

Losbeschreibung

Lovely honey-gold color blends with satiny mint luster on both sides of this well struck, originally preserved coin. Consistent with other years during the 1860s, the production of double eagles at the San Francisco Mint was immense, dwarfing that of the Philadelphia facility. In 1868, some 837,500 examples were coined. Most of these entered into the channels of commerce along the Pacific Coast, where gold was used in day-to-day transactions as freely as paper money was used back East. Many others were likely shipped overseas and melted. Q. David Bowers estimated a population of just five to eight different Uncirculated examples when he wrote his <em>Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins</em> in 2004. This estimate agrees nicely with David W. Akers' 1982 research, as the latter was only able to find six examples cataloged as Mint State in a survey of more than 400 major auction sales. More recently, it would appear that several additional MS-60/61 quality examples have come onto the market although, like its identically dated Philadelphia Mint counterpart, the 1868-S remains a major rarity in Mint State. This is one of the nicer examples we've handled at the MS-61 grade level, and it would serve nicely in an advanced gold cabinet.