Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature US Coin Sale 1252 16-17 Feb 2017
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Proof Liberty Double Eagles
1892 $20 PR65 Deep Cameo PCGS. CAC. The 1892 double eagle is a rarity in both business-strike and proof format. Many of the Philadelphia Mint twenties from the 1880s and early 1890s were low-mintage issues, some of them fabulous rarities with memorably low production figures, such as the 1882 and 1885, at 571 and 751 business strikes, respectively. The emission of the 1892 business strikes was a meager 4,430 pieces, an effect of Treasury policy implemented in 1882 aimed at increasing the circulation of lower-denomination half eagles and eagles. The 1892 business strikes saw a complement of 93 recorded proofs, but it is a good bet that many were melted as unsold at year-end, a common Mint practice of the day. The experts at PCGS estimate that perhaps 24 to 28 coins survive today, a figure that aligns with the paucity of our auction offerings of this date, particularly with the Ultra Cameo or Deep Cameo designation.
That brings us to the present coin, an amazingly deep-contrasted proof with profoundly "black" fields and thickly frosted devices. The surfaces are fully struck throughout and demonstrate under a loupe the faint orange-peel effect often seen on proof gold of the era. The only mentionable pedigree markers are a couple of small, curved lint marks, one one to the upper right of the 2 in the date and the other below star 13. Population: 4 in 65 Deep Cameo, 2 finer. CAC: 3 in 65, 2 finer (1/17).
Ex: Chicago Signature (Heritage, 8/2011), lot 7671.
1892 $20 PR65 Deep Cameo PCGS. CAC. The 1892 double eagle is a rarity in both business-strike and proof format. Many of the Philadelphia Mint twenties from the 1880s and early 1890s were low-mintage issues, some of them fabulous rarities with memorably low production figures, such as the 1882 and 1885, at 571 and 751 business strikes, respectively. The emission of the 1892 business strikes was a meager 4,430 pieces, an effect of Treasury policy implemented in 1882 aimed at increasing the circulation of lower-denomination half eagles and eagles. The 1892 business strikes saw a complement of 93 recorded proofs, but it is a good bet that many were melted as unsold at year-end, a common Mint practice of the day. The experts at PCGS estimate that perhaps 24 to 28 coins survive today, a figure that aligns with the paucity of our auction offerings of this date, particularly with the Ultra Cameo or Deep Cameo designation.
That brings us to the present coin, an amazingly deep-contrasted proof with profoundly "black" fields and thickly frosted devices. The surfaces are fully struck throughout and demonstrate under a loupe the faint orange-peel effect often seen on proof gold of the era. The only mentionable pedigree markers are a couple of small, curved lint marks, one one to the upper right of the 2 in the date and the other below star 13. Population: 4 in 65 Deep Cameo, 2 finer. CAC: 3 in 65, 2 finer (1/17).
Ex: Chicago Signature (Heritage, 8/2011), lot 7671.