1879-CC $5 Gold – CC Coin of the Week - 11-09-09

...from The Drummer collection




1879-CC Half Eagle

With an original mintage of 17,281, the 1879-CC half eagle is the 13th (of 19) rarest coin from the series. There are 225-275 estimated survivors in all grades (figures courtesy of "The Mint on Carson Street" by Rusty Goe.)

Price estimates (courtesy of U.S. Coin Digest 2009):
VF-20 $575 XF-40 $1,500 AU-50 $3,150 MS-60 $22,000

In the year 1879 the Carson City mint produced only four denominations: Gold half eagles, eagles, double eagles and Morgan silver dollars.

My selection as the November 9, 2009 coin of the week, the 1879-CC half eagle is one of the easier (relative term) issues to obtain from the 1870 series of "CC" half eagles. It's fairly easy to obtain in lower grades and of course becomes more difficult to locate in the upper AU range where it is considered rare. It's considered extremely rare in mint state as presently there are only four to six examples known. PCGS lists one example as the finest known in MS-61 while NGC list two examples in that grade.

The example shown here from my collection is an eye-appealing, solidly graded coin with a lustrous golden-yellow hue, strong strike and crisp detail. There are minute surface "bag marks" but none worthy of note.

There are two varieties of this date currently known.
VARIETY 1-A and VARIETY 2-A.
My coin shown is a VARIETY 2-A specimen.
(Varieties explained courtesy of "Gold Coins of the Carson City Mint" by Douglas Winter - Edited by James L. Halperin.)

VARIETY 1-A: "The date is well spaced between the base of the neck and denticles. There is no die scratch through the bottom right serif of the E in LIBERTY. On late die states of this variety, there is noticeable doubling of the mint mark."

VARIETY 2-A: "The date is slightly higher and positioned differently than on Variety 1-A. This variety is immediately identifiable by a scratch through the bottom right serif of the E in LIBERTY."

Historic events from 1879:
March 14: Physicist Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany.
December 31: Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" premieres in New York City.
December 31: Inventor Thomas Edison unveils the first display of electric city lights in his home town of Menlo Park, NJ.

By Michael Parrott (the drummer) C4OA LM-0023

The most popular coinage facility that struck Liberty Half Eagles
(with motto) is the Carson City Mint, and CC-mint fives are widely collected either in their own right or as a part of larger collections
of frontier-era gold.

A complete 19 coin set in AU-50 will cost over $200,000.

Motto: IN GOD WE TRUST

The unexpected duration and bloodletting of the Civil War resulted in a religious revival in the United States. This revival had an impact on the nation's coinage.First, in 1864 Two-Cent piece became first U.S.
coin to include the motto IN GOD WE TRUST as part of the design.Then in
1865 it was required that all coins of sufficient size include the motto.

For the gold series, the smallest coin affected was the Half Eagle.
After the addition of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST in 1866, the Liberty Half Eagle design remained unchanged through its termination in 1908.

As far as 1879-CC Carson City half eagle is concerned, it has low mintage, is relatively easy to obtain, is reasonably priced in lower grades --- everybody should have at least one. I am still looking for mine.

John Armonas

Very interesting coin selection Drummer. You have a great set of half eagles. Also I agree with Belay off below. Its a great photo.

Drummer,

Congratulations on a terrific first posting for the CC Coin of the Week project.
Informative, interesting and a great coin to exemplify the date.

The strike on your coin appears very strong as even the smallest definition shows up clearly in the image. Thanks for your participation...

Belay Off