From a mintage of 425,400 pieces, the 1889-S Liberty eagle is not too difficult to locate in lower circulated grades but Choice examples are rare. Writing all the way back in 2006, Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth remarked:
“MS-64 examples are very rare and the finest certified example is a single PCGS MS-65 coin, which has yet to appear on the market.” The current PCGS population report shows one MS65+ example, (but no MS65’s) with none higher. For its part, the NGC population is 1 with none graded higher.
Listed at $54,000 in the CDN CPG and $69,000 in the NGC price guide.
A relatively modest business-strike mintage of 168,838 Saint-Gaudens double eagles was accomplished at the Philadelphia Mint in 1913. The coins were produced in nine deliveries, spaced throughout the year. Most of the coins were sent to European and Latin American destinations, and Roger W. Burdette estimates about 5,000 examples have been repatriated from overseas sources in recent times. Most examples seen are in lower Mint State grades, with the expected number of bagmarks from rough storage and transport. The 1913 Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a rare issue at the MS65 grade level, and finer coins are virtually unobtainable.
The NGC population is 22 with 2 graded higher.
Offered at $25,850 (Bank Wire, ACH, Delivered)
We do business the old fashioned way, we speak with you.
The 1911-S Indian ten-dollar gold piece was once considered one of the rarest dates of the series in Mint State. The date boasts a low mintage of just 51,000 pieces, and the great majority of the coins were released into circulation at the time of issue. Before the discovery of a hoard of 50 pieces in Europe in the 1970s, Mint State specimens of this date were virtually unheard-of. The date began appearing in auction catalogs in the 1940s, but even great collectors like F.C.C. Boyd and King Farouk were content with specimens that graded only VF during that era. Louis Eliasberg, the “King of Coins,” settled for an XF40 example in his extraordinary collection. The situation changed radically in 1979 when Marc Emory, acting for New England Rare Coin Galleries, brokered a deal for a group of Gem Uncirculated 1911-S eagles through his contacts in Spain. The story of this remarkable find was told for the first time in the Ivy Press publication The Coinage of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The hoard was originally the property of the American governor of the Philippines in 1911, who gave a group of 50 ten-dollar gold coins from the San Francisco Mint to a Spanish citizen who was residing in the Philippines at the time. The coins were preserved by that gentleman, who later returned to Spain, and the hoard became part of his estate when he died. The coins were retained by his family for many years until his grandson decided to sell them through a prominent coin collector from Barcelona. Marc Emory met with the collector and finalized a deal through a Swiss bank for 30 of the coins. The remainder of the hoard eventually became available, and NERCA became the conduit for their entry into the U.S. coin market. Nearly all Gem level 1911-S eagles in collector’s hands today are from this fantastic hoard.
In hand, this Gem is lighter in hue and more lustrous than seen in our images. The NGC population is only 10 with 2 graded higher.
Offered at $25,850 (Bank Wire, ACH, Delivered)
We do business the old fashioned way, we speak with you.
Prior to 1881, gold proofs are almost entirely sold only in complete denomination sets. Gold proof sets sales continued in 1881, with 40 distributed by the end of the first quarter, but individual proof quarter eagles were struck and sold throughout the year as well, bringing the mintage for this issue to 51 pieces. These coins are among the most contrasted proofs in the Liberty quarter eagle series, and the palindrome date makes them popular type coins. Type collector demand is further heightened by the fact that many later proof quarter eagles (such as those struck from 1902 through 1907), lack the same degree of cameo contrast seen on late 19th century proofs. In United States Proof Coins, Volume IV: Gold, John Dannreuther estimates that only 18 to 22 proof 1881 quarter eagles survive. This is far less coins than the PCGS estimate of 30 to 35 pieces, but it might be more accurate. A significant number of the non-Cameo proofs reported by the grading services have likely been reconsidered in more recent years and redesignated Cameo or Deep Cameo. This is the only PR67 Ultra Cameo graded by NGC with none higher.
Listed at $80,000 in the NGC price guide.
Offered at $74,750
We do business the old fashioned way, we speak with you.
The Saint-Gaudens Indian Head eagle series, which ran from 1907 through 1933 (the final production was nearly completely destroyed), is a deceptively challenging set to put together, particularly in high grades. Only a handful of issues are collectible in Gem condition or better, several have either low mintages – low survival rates or both – and just two of them (the 1926 and 1932) could be considered plentiful. The 1911-D is a series semi-key struck to the limited extent of just 30,100 coins. That meager total represents the lowest production among all regular-issue Indian Head ten-dollar gold pieces and explains why examples are so highly sought-after.
