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1883-CC $5 Gold CC Coin of the Week - 03-14-10
14 years 9 months ago - 14 years 9 months ago #996
by coindrummer
1883-CC $5 Liberty Gold Piece
…from the drummer collection
The 1883-CC half eagle has an original mintage of 12,958 and is in a two-way tie with the 1884-CC half eagle for the 9th (of 19) rarest coins of this series. There are 185-225 estimated survivors in all grades making this issue rarer than most collectors acknowledge (figures courtesy of The Mint on Carson Street by Rusty Goe.)
All “CC” half eagles are based on a design by Christian Gobrecht (b.1785 – d.1844) who was the third Chief Engraver at the U.S. Mint from 1835 to 1844. They are technically referred to as: Type II, Coronet Head, left, within a circle of stars and with the Motto “In God We Trust” on the ribbon above the eagle (reverse).
PRICE ESTIMATES: (courtesy of U.S. Coin Digest 2009)
VF-20 $460
XF-40 $1,100
AU-50 $3,200
MS-60 $18,000
For those collectors who are also fans of “wild west” lore, the year 1883 offers a high percentage opportunity to own a piece of gold from the fabled Comstock as the Carson City mint received almost 100% of its gold shipments from that area.
With its low mintage and estimated survivor figures, the 1883-CC $5 is the 2nd rarest CC half eagle from the 1880’s just behind the 1881-CC $5 and is actually rarer than some of the 1870's issues.
Popular Carson Mint Superintendent James Crawford was at the helm as the year 1883 saw the production of four denominations:
SILVER: MORGAN DOLLARS
GOLD: HALF EAGLES - EAGLES - DOUBLE EAGLES
A good number of 1883“CC” half eagles show “bag-marked” surfaces. As most of us know, “CC” gold was in heavy commercial use and very little was saved. Locating examples of this date with nice eye-appeal can be challenging. I was one of the lucky ones as my coin has a very pleasing over-all look with very good eye-appeal. It has a frosty “champagne” hue, solid strike and loads of crisp detail. It was originally purchased in a PCGS XF-45 holder. I immediately sent it on a trip back to the graders as it has way too much luster for an XF-45. It was certainly not a surprise to me when my precious "CC" coin returned from its “vacation” as a properly graded AU-50. The grading is particularly important for this date as value more than doubles between the two mentioned grades.
Most examples of this date are found in the XF to AU ranges. There are only 7 to 8 estimated to exist in the uncirculated grades. NGC has certified one in MS-64 as the finest known.
Only one die variety is known, VARIETY 1-A. There also is a possibility of a second, but as of yet unverified variety with a tall mintmark. (Die varieties explained courtesy of Gold Coins of the Carson Mint by Douglas Winter – Edited by James L. Halperin.)
VARIETY 1-A: “The date is large and positioned evenly between the base of the neck and the denticles. The mintmark is small and round. As it is totally unlike any other Carson City half eagle from this decade, we can presume that it is a left-over unused die from the 1870’s.”
1883 HISTORICAL EVENTS:
February 13: German composer (Die Walkure) Richard Wagner (b.1813) dies in Venice Italy.
February 27: Oscar Hammerstein patents the first cigar-rolling machine.
March 24: The first long-distance telephone call was placed between New York and Chicago.
May1: William F. “Wild Bill” Cody puts on the first Wild West Show in North Platte, Neb.
May 23: The running of the 9th Kentucky Derby: William Donohue aboard Leonatus wins in 2:43.
July 4: Famous cartoonist Rube Goldberg (Ruben Lucius Goldberg - d.1970) was born in San Francisco, CA. He was known for his cartoons featuring absurdly simple mechanical devices to accomplish absurdly simple tasks.
August 27: Volcanic Island Krakatoa (west of Java) explodes with a force of 1,300 megatons killing more than 36,000 people.
September 8: Northern Pacific RR completes its east-west line with a last gold spike at Gold Creek, Montana.
December 2: Johann Brahms’ 3rd Symphony in F-Major premieres in Vienna, Austria.
By Michael Parrott (the drummer) LM-0023
C4OA Lifer!
1883-CC $5 Gold CC Coin of the Week - 03-14-10 was created by coindrummer
1883-CC $5 Liberty Gold Piece
…from the drummer collection
The 1883-CC half eagle has an original mintage of 12,958 and is in a two-way tie with the 1884-CC half eagle for the 9th (of 19) rarest coins of this series. There are 185-225 estimated survivors in all grades making this issue rarer than most collectors acknowledge (figures courtesy of The Mint on Carson Street by Rusty Goe.)
All “CC” half eagles are based on a design by Christian Gobrecht (b.1785 – d.1844) who was the third Chief Engraver at the U.S. Mint from 1835 to 1844. They are technically referred to as: Type II, Coronet Head, left, within a circle of stars and with the Motto “In God We Trust” on the ribbon above the eagle (reverse).
PRICE ESTIMATES: (courtesy of U.S. Coin Digest 2009)
VF-20 $460
XF-40 $1,100
AU-50 $3,200
MS-60 $18,000
For those collectors who are also fans of “wild west” lore, the year 1883 offers a high percentage opportunity to own a piece of gold from the fabled Comstock as the Carson City mint received almost 100% of its gold shipments from that area.
With its low mintage and estimated survivor figures, the 1883-CC $5 is the 2nd rarest CC half eagle from the 1880’s just behind the 1881-CC $5 and is actually rarer than some of the 1870's issues.
Popular Carson Mint Superintendent James Crawford was at the helm as the year 1883 saw the production of four denominations:
SILVER: MORGAN DOLLARS
GOLD: HALF EAGLES - EAGLES - DOUBLE EAGLES
A good number of 1883“CC” half eagles show “bag-marked” surfaces. As most of us know, “CC” gold was in heavy commercial use and very little was saved. Locating examples of this date with nice eye-appeal can be challenging. I was one of the lucky ones as my coin has a very pleasing over-all look with very good eye-appeal. It has a frosty “champagne” hue, solid strike and loads of crisp detail. It was originally purchased in a PCGS XF-45 holder. I immediately sent it on a trip back to the graders as it has way too much luster for an XF-45. It was certainly not a surprise to me when my precious "CC" coin returned from its “vacation” as a properly graded AU-50. The grading is particularly important for this date as value more than doubles between the two mentioned grades.
Most examples of this date are found in the XF to AU ranges. There are only 7 to 8 estimated to exist in the uncirculated grades. NGC has certified one in MS-64 as the finest known.
Only one die variety is known, VARIETY 1-A. There also is a possibility of a second, but as of yet unverified variety with a tall mintmark. (Die varieties explained courtesy of Gold Coins of the Carson Mint by Douglas Winter – Edited by James L. Halperin.)
VARIETY 1-A: “The date is large and positioned evenly between the base of the neck and the denticles. The mintmark is small and round. As it is totally unlike any other Carson City half eagle from this decade, we can presume that it is a left-over unused die from the 1870’s.”
1883 HISTORICAL EVENTS:
February 13: German composer (Die Walkure) Richard Wagner (b.1813) dies in Venice Italy.
February 27: Oscar Hammerstein patents the first cigar-rolling machine.
March 24: The first long-distance telephone call was placed between New York and Chicago.
May1: William F. “Wild Bill” Cody puts on the first Wild West Show in North Platte, Neb.
May 23: The running of the 9th Kentucky Derby: William Donohue aboard Leonatus wins in 2:43.
July 4: Famous cartoonist Rube Goldberg (Ruben Lucius Goldberg - d.1970) was born in San Francisco, CA. He was known for his cartoons featuring absurdly simple mechanical devices to accomplish absurdly simple tasks.
August 27: Volcanic Island Krakatoa (west of Java) explodes with a force of 1,300 megatons killing more than 36,000 people.
September 8: Northern Pacific RR completes its east-west line with a last gold spike at Gold Creek, Montana.
December 2: Johann Brahms’ 3rd Symphony in F-Major premieres in Vienna, Austria.
By Michael Parrott (the drummer) LM-0023
C4OA Lifer!
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14 years 9 months ago - 14 years 9 months ago #999
by Belayoff
C4OA Lifer!
Replied by Belayoff on topic Re:1883-CC $5 Gold CC Coin of the Week - 03-14-10
Drummer,
A well written and very informative article Michael, thank you. I had not thought about rating a CC gold coin's rarity as compared to others in either the 1870's or 1880's decade as separate classifications. Your use of this rarity comparison makes sense as the two eras were different in many ways. I always learn something when I read your articles Michael !
As is true with most coin photographs, it's very difficult to correctly measure the important eye appeal features and surface quality that ultimately determine a coin's grade and desirability. That being said, I can clearly see two of this coin's strong suits.
The strike is very solid with even the smallest of the devices sharp and well defined. The exception is near the center of the reverse where the eagle's neck feathers are soft and lack clarity. As you know, this aspect of Carson City gold coin strikes is very common and may not downgrade a coin, unless unusually severe. Several of my own CC gold coins, particularly the Eagles, have the identical flat feathered strike characteristic on the eagle's neck.
The second important feature that I was able to discern when blowing up the photo was the many sizeable pockets of pink-champaign mint luster still protected by the devices. Though I cannot tilt a coin's photograph to catch the light, the numerous pockets of protected luster clearly suggest this coin has unusually strong "overall" luster quality. Reading your article after examining the photo confirmed this observation.
I also noticed that the first "8" in the date is higher than the other three numbers and that the second "C" in the mint ID also seems to be slightly higher than the first. Hmmm...must be the work of that same lunchtime "sour-mash" that I mentioned in an article a few months back.
Congratulations on securing this world class example of an 1883-CC $5 gold coin and thank you for sharing this lovely coin with us members in your excellent C4OA web site posting for this week's Carson City Coin of the Week article.
Belay Off
A well written and very informative article Michael, thank you. I had not thought about rating a CC gold coin's rarity as compared to others in either the 1870's or 1880's decade as separate classifications. Your use of this rarity comparison makes sense as the two eras were different in many ways. I always learn something when I read your articles Michael !
As is true with most coin photographs, it's very difficult to correctly measure the important eye appeal features and surface quality that ultimately determine a coin's grade and desirability. That being said, I can clearly see two of this coin's strong suits.
The strike is very solid with even the smallest of the devices sharp and well defined. The exception is near the center of the reverse where the eagle's neck feathers are soft and lack clarity. As you know, this aspect of Carson City gold coin strikes is very common and may not downgrade a coin, unless unusually severe. Several of my own CC gold coins, particularly the Eagles, have the identical flat feathered strike characteristic on the eagle's neck.
The second important feature that I was able to discern when blowing up the photo was the many sizeable pockets of pink-champaign mint luster still protected by the devices. Though I cannot tilt a coin's photograph to catch the light, the numerous pockets of protected luster clearly suggest this coin has unusually strong "overall" luster quality. Reading your article after examining the photo confirmed this observation.
I also noticed that the first "8" in the date is higher than the other three numbers and that the second "C" in the mint ID also seems to be slightly higher than the first. Hmmm...must be the work of that same lunchtime "sour-mash" that I mentioned in an article a few months back.
Congratulations on securing this world class example of an 1883-CC $5 gold coin and thank you for sharing this lovely coin with us members in your excellent C4OA web site posting for this week's Carson City Coin of the Week article.
Belay Off
C4OA Lifer!
Please Log in to join the conversation.
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