1874-CC $20 Gold Carson City Coin of the Week 3/27/11

Randy,

Wow, fantastic research and a very interesting introduction into your coin's year of production.

This "peek at CC society" is one of the trends of the COTW project that I enjoy the most. For me, it brings home the fact that we are discussing real people struggling through their lives, many of whom ultimately produced these special coins that we are collecting and studying today. Little did they know how revered their efforts would be!

I am still working to complete my CC Eagle set and have not started to work on a CC Double Eagle set yet. As it turns out though, of the three Carson City Double Eagles I own, one is actually an AU-55 example of the 1874-CC Double Eagle purchased about five years ago for $3,500!

Great Coin of the Week article my friend!

Belay Off

Carsonite,

Yes, we're having a good time, but we're seriously advancing our own knowledge in the process. The Carson City Coin of the Week program has been a very worthwhile.

Belay Off

Loosechange,

It's a little tough to think of the 1874-CC Double Eagle as common date coin, though technically speaking, it's just that.

I've come to appreciate ANY Carson City coin from the 1870's as very special.

Belay Off

Randy,

All these measurments bring to mind the story that Rusty tells on pages 495 and 496 of The Mint on Carson Street about how Superintendent Rice allegedly stole 3,600 1870-CC Double Eagles.

Based on the estimated weights that you describe, the 3,600 gold twenties would have weighed about 288 pounds. Additionally, Rusty describes the two boxes Rice had built to carry the coins as weighing 114 pounds each.

With both boxes fully loaded, this tidy little bit of legerdemain would have weighed over 500 pounds! Not something one could sneak out in his lunch box.

Belay Off

Belay Off, I agree wholeheartedly that this COW project has been a worthwhile endeavor. I have learned so much from all the post as well as the research I have done on my own. What a great idea this has been. As far as an 1874-CC double eagle being common....I agree how can any gold from the Mint on Carson Street be common. Kind of an oxymoron.

Loosechange

Loosechange, Deepsouth, Carsonite, Drummer and Belay, thank you all for the positive and inspiring comments. Carsonite, your comments are always encouraging. Loosechange, it is hard to fathom that just over 100,000 coins is considered a more common mintage. When you think in those terms, C.C. coins are probably undervalued. Deepsouth, looking forward to your post. Hey Drummer, If there was 2500 survuval pieces, at one time I owned two 1874 C.C. double eagles, one an AU-50 and the other an AU-53. That means at that time only 2498 other people had one.
I know, I'm being silly. I did give up the AU-50 one (well not "give" it up), traded it off for another coin, Don't remember what it was, but it had to be another C.C., wouldn't give one up, unless I was getting one better.
Belay,it is hard to believe that Superintendent Rice could have pulled off a caper like that, as you said with coins, boxes and all, your looking at 500 pounds per box. That means two guys on each end of the box would have to be able to lift 250 pounds apiece. They must have been brutes, if the story is true. As Rusty states it is hard to think that Abe Curry would go off and forget about 3,600 double eagles, but we'll never know for sure. One would think with all the development in Carson City since that time, they would have stumbled upon them and dug them up. Still, someone could someday be trenching for a sprinkler line in their front yard and suddenly.....clunk! Maybe Rice should have just started carring some out in his dinner bucket, like that Johnny Cash song, "One Piece at a Time."
Thanks again to all of you.
-R-
P.S. If those 3,600 1870 C.C. double eagles would happen to be discovered, what kind of affect do you all think that would have on the market for existing ones? Suddenly, there would be 3,600 more examples.