Heritage World Coin Auctions
CSNS Signature US Coin Sale 1254 26-28 Apr 2017
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Liberty Double Eagles
1854-S $20 AU58 NGC. CAC. Ex: Eric P. Newman Collection. Production at the newly opened San Francisco Mint began in April 1854, with coinage of the first double eagles bearing an S mintmark. Due in part to the sizeable numbers of privately minted small denominations circulating in Gold Rush-era California, depositors typically requested large denominations, and therefore the new mint's resources were primarily utilized for eagles and double eagles its first year of operation.
More than 141,000 double eagles were produced, but surprisingly few survive today. Most of the high-grade coins known trace their origin to the S.S. Yankee Blade shipwreck, which was discovered with its vast gold stores in the late 1970s. The shipwreck coins are usually bright and etched to some degree by saltwater exposure. Examples not from the shipwreck, with original orange-gold patina, are extremely rare in the upper AU levels and prohibitively so in Mint State. The near-Mint Newman coin boasts unusually smooth surfaces and bold design definition. Luminous apricot-gold surfaces are blatantly original and increase the eye appeal. Includes Newman's original paper envelope, describing the coin as "Unc. Brilliant & perfect." Census: 20 in 58, 49 finer. CAC: 4 in 58, 3 finer (3/17).
Ex: Eric P. Newman Collection, Part V (Heritage, 11/2014), lot 3349.
HID02901242017
1854-S $20 AU58 NGC. CAC. Ex: Eric P. Newman Collection. Production at the newly opened San Francisco Mint began in April 1854, with coinage of the first double eagles bearing an S mintmark. Due in part to the sizeable numbers of privately minted small denominations circulating in Gold Rush-era California, depositors typically requested large denominations, and therefore the new mint's resources were primarily utilized for eagles and double eagles its first year of operation.
More than 141,000 double eagles were produced, but surprisingly few survive today. Most of the high-grade coins known trace their origin to the S.S. Yankee Blade shipwreck, which was discovered with its vast gold stores in the late 1970s. The shipwreck coins are usually bright and etched to some degree by saltwater exposure. Examples not from the shipwreck, with original orange-gold patina, are extremely rare in the upper AU levels and prohibitively so in Mint State. The near-Mint Newman coin boasts unusually smooth surfaces and bold design definition. Luminous apricot-gold surfaces are blatantly original and increase the eye appeal. Includes Newman's original paper envelope, describing the coin as "Unc. Brilliant & perfect." Census: 20 in 58, 49 finer. CAC: 4 in 58, 3 finer (3/17).
Ex: Eric P. Newman Collection, Part V (Heritage, 11/2014), lot 3349.
HID02901242017