1884-CC $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS AU58 (CAC) Ex. Fairmont Collection

This is a very, very rare coin. Most of this issue saw heavy circulation in the rough-and-ready West of its day. People who lived in the West were suspect of paper money and therefore gold pieces, especially the $5 Liberty half eagles, saw much circulation. The mintage was just 16,402. PCGS graded 18 in AU58, with only 3 finer. In CAC there are 18 in AU58 with 1 finer. The highest grade is only MS61, so this piece is among the finest known.

The Carson City Mint, where this rarity was struck in 1884. Photo: wikipedia.

Doug 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."