A set of EAGLES is easily the toughest set to assemble out of the three gold-coin series from the Carson Mint. A quick look at the original mintage totals for many of the dates reveals why this series is so challenging.

The number-one rarity in the set, the 1870-CC, with its paltry original output of only 5,908 pieces, does not even boast of having the lowest mintage. The 1879-CC eagle claims that honor, hands down, with its anemic output of just 1,762 pieces. The two preceding years, 1877 and 1878, register in with skimpy mintage figures of 3,332 and 3,244 respectively.

In fact, out of the first 16 dates of eagles produced at the Carson Mint, the highest annual output was only 24,015 pieces, from the year 1881. Only the 1891-CC eagle can be considered to have a high mintage total, with its figure of 103,732. This is interesting because this figure represents slightly more than one third of the total mintage for all 19 dates in the “CC” gold eagle series.