1884-CC $20 Gold - CC Coin of the Week 4-11-10

Above are the images of 1884-CC $20 AU-58 and the image of the upgrade MS-62.

1884-CC $20 Gold is among the more common Carson City double eagles. It is readily available in all circulated grades and can be located in the lowest Mint State grades without much difficulty. It becomes scare in MS-62 and is very rare in MS-63 and higher.

Mintage: 81,139. Survival estimates in all grades: 2,200 - 2,600. Survival in Mint State: 100 - 150. A significant number were shipped overseas for foreign trade.

Finest Smithsonian Institution specimen: MS-60.

So far only one variety has been identified: Variety 1-A. The date is compact and somewhat small. The mint mark is tall. The first C is almost midway between the Y in Twenty and the D in Dollars while the second C is over the left side of the D in Dollars.

While 81,139 double eagles were struck at the Carson City Mint and 683,500 double eagles we produced at the San Francisco Mint, the Philadelphia Mint made only 71 Proof coins. In 1884 few people were interested in and could afford to buy high-denomination gold. Five dollars was about the average worker's weekly pay.

At this time Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was very popular. Many remember Mark Twain as a producer of the "Territorial Enterprise" in Virginia City, Nevada, commercial center of the Comstock Lode.

Present day prices for 1884-CC $20 Double Eagle,

F-30 $2,000
XF-40 $2,250
AU-55 $3,400
MS-60 $4,750
MS-62 $12,500
MS-63 $25,000

For more information about this coin one can read "A Guide Book of Double Eagles Gold Coins" by Q. David Bowers, p. 172 or "The Mint on Carson Street" by Rusty Goe, pp. 415-416 or "Gold Coins of the Carson City Mint" by Douglas Winter, pp. 182-183.

As far as I am concerned, $20 Gold Double Eagles are the Best coins ever produced by the USA mints. Among Carson City Double Eagles 1884-CC is the best struck gold issue and is readily available in MS grades. "Gold Finger" would have been proud to own one of these coins. Get at least one while they are still available at a reasonable price.


John Armonas

John,

Excellent article not to mention those two big goldies. I too like big coins, and agree with you that the Liberty Head CC double eagles certainly qualify as among the most impressive coins ever minted.

How do these two coins fare with regard to the ubiquitous surface marks and abrassions so commonly found on Carson City gold issues?

As I hsve expressed before, I believe one of the key reasons that so few Carson City minted gold coins have smooth, numismatically pleasing surfaces is simply because they were so desperately needed in local and regional commerce. By comparisson, many of the gold coins minted in SF or back east frequently spent their entire lives being shipped in bags from one bank vault to another. As often as not, these other vaults were in Europe or Asia.

I am curious about the contributions of Mark Twain to the Territorial Enterprise. Wasn't he a writer only? Your article is the first time I've seen his name associated with "producing" the paper. This is yet another fascinating side note to the region's rich history.

Belay Off

Mark Twain as a producer of the Territorial Enterprise came from "A Guide Book of Silver Dollars" by Q. David Bowers, p.156, third paragraph from the bottom.

I do not know the details of his exact position at the paper. I like the guy and have read most of his works. At the end of his life he became "very strange" and "dark and gloomy". He has traveled all over the world but there are no references about coin collecting. He put most of his money into typewriters.

John Armonas