1872-CC $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS F12 (CAC) Ex. Fairmont Collection

It is with pride that we at AUCM present a precious legacy from the Carson City mint: an 1872-CC $5 gold half eagle, graded PCGS F12 (CAC), Ex. Fairmont Collection. Carson City ('CC') $5 gold pieces are exceedingly popular with collectors. Unlike the $10 Eagle and $20 Double Eagles, numismatists can accumulate this entire series with no six-figure examples to pursue, for there are enough collector-grade 'CC' Half Eagles to satisfy differing gold coin budgets.  Gold specialist Doug Winter writes, "Half eagles, as a rule, have become a much more collected denomination in the last few years. For many collectors, gold dollars and quarter eagles are too small, three Dollar gold pieces are too weird, and eagles/double eagles have gotten really expensive. That leaves half eagles as a sweet spot for a number of new (and existing) collectors."

Winter writes about the Carson City gold half eagles from the Fairmont Collection that were auctioned by Stacks Bowers in 2020: "Every date except the rare 1870-CC was represented in this sale....The pre-1879 dates were all well-worn with nearly all grading VF35 or lower while the 1879 through 1884 dates were represented by nice AU coins. The four ... dates from the 1890s were all represented by lovely MS62 to MS63 coins....This sample of Carson City half eagles was really fascinating to me. The early dates saw very heavy circulation in local commerce and I’d estimate that these coins were pulled from circulation circa 1900 or so. The dates from the 1880s saw just a bit of circulation and the 1890s dates saw virtually none."