1871-CC $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle PCGS XF45

Here is a rare example for the specialist in Carson City gold. Please take a careful look at the photos provided. The mintage was 17,387. PCGS has graded 50 as XF45 with only 44 finer. The finest at PCGS is a single MS61. Collector’s Universe prices this issue at $65,000.00 in XF45.

Gold specialist David Akers writes, “Compared to all other twenties, the 1871-CC … is tied for first place in rarity according to average grade.”  There was modest numismatic interest in Liberty head double eagles overall, and branch mint issues in particular in 1871. Plus, gold coins from the Carson City Mint were used in commerce in the Old West, both in day-to-day commerce and bank transactions. Research tells us that there are only 155-220 survivors of the 1871-CC twenty.

In The Confident Carson City Collector, Rusty Goe writes that the 1871-CC double eagle is "the second rarest date in a nineteen-piece set of one of the most powerful and captivating series in all of U.S. numismatics."  An instrument of everyday commerce in the Old West, the surviving population of the 1871-CC is approximately 155-220 specimens in all grades today.

The Carson City Mint, where this rarity was struck in 1871. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.