1859 $20 MS(PCGS#8926)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Commissaire-priseur

Stack's Bowers

Numéro du lot

3164

Grade

AU58

Prix

12 600

Description du lot

This 1859 double eagle offers superior Choice AU quality for an elusive and conditionally challenging issue. Both sides are awash in rich, vivid color with plenty of soft mint luster remaining. A bit lightly struck in isolated peripheral areas, yet impressively bold through the centers.<p>With just 43,597 circulation strikes produced, the 1859 has the second lowest mintage among Philadelphia Mint double eagles of the Type I Liberty Head design. Douglas Winter and Adam Crum (<em>An Insider's Guide to Collecting Type I Double Eagles</em>, 2002) mention just three or four Uncirculated coins that surfaced during the late 1990s. Obviously, the 1859 has not benefited from any shipwreck or similar finds that increased the availability of issues such as the 1857-S and 1865-S. Only 350 or so coins are believed extant, most of which are in circulated grades such as VF and EF. While a few more pieces have come to light since Winter and Crum wrote on this issue, Mint State survivors of the 1859 remain of the utmost rarity. Premium AUs as certified by PCGS and NGC are only marginally less rare, and this is one of our more significant offerings for this underrated issue in recent years.