By Antoinette Rahn
With a mintage of just 100 coins, the 1875 $10 Liberty Eagle coin is a scarce and historic piece, and one example is headlining Heritage Auctions’ Long Beach Expo U.S. Coins Auction.
“Fewer than 10 pieces of the 100 1875 Liberty Eagle struck for circulation are believed to have survived in all grades,” said Sarah Miller, Managing Director of Numismatics at Heritage New York.
Interestingly, the Liberty Eagle coins of 1875 were met with little interest among collectors early on, as the cost was too expensive for generalist collectors to add to a collection, and the collectors who specialized in gold coin collection often ordered one of the proof coins, reports Heritage Auctions. With that, in the past two decades, there’s been only 13 examples of this issue, in any grade, offered at public auction. The coin is expected to command more than six figures during the Long Beach sale.
Enjoy a sneak peek of auction details…
In addition to this unique coin, during the auction, which is scheduled for Feb. 20-23, some 2,000 lots will come before bidders. Additional noted highlights of this annual auction include not one or two special collections of coins returning to public auction, but eight. The touted 1875 Liberty Eagle is representative of one of the collections, the Harvey B. Jacobson, Jr. Collection of Liberty Eagles. Mr. Jacobson’s collection is a complete set of Liberty Eagles.
Some of the many coins generating interest ahead of this auction include:
• 1794 $1 B-1, BB-1, R.4 — Repaired — PCGS Genuine. VF Details
This example, described as an “American Classic,” is one of just 137 confirmed examples in existence. It is part of the McDonald Family Collection, which has been lauded for containing coins that circulated far and wide with dates, mintmarks, and varieties that are numismatic challenges, according to Heritage Auctions.
• 1916 25C MS65 Full Head PCGS
The presentation of this coin, with its warm toning and satin luster, is truly eye-catching. The strike sharpness is also clearly evident, in this example from the featured Triplets Collection, and it’s reported PCGS lists only 27 finer Full Head specimens.
• 1853-C $5 AU50 PCGS. Variety 3.
There is a lot of fascinating facts related to this coin, which hails from the Brookside Collection. It’s a five-dollar gold, minted at the Charlotte Mint, and it’s a Weak C variety, which adds to its rarity status. The Charlotte Mint is certainly one of the least known U.S. mints, but its history is intriguing. Prompted by the Carolina Gold Rush, coin production began in 1837 and all of the coins struck that first year were produced from refined gold ore retrieved during the gold rush.
• 1807 50C Capped Bust, Bearded Goddess, O-111b, R.5, VF20 NGC. CAC.
Are you familiar with the “Bearded Goddess” Capped Bust half dollar? The name comes from the visible chin-to-chest crack that appears on the coin’s obverse. An example of this popular legendary coin, from A Small California Cabinet will cross the auction block.
To view more lots in this sale, visit www.ha.com.
