1872-CC LIBERTY HEAD $10 AU50

A CHOICE AU EXAMPLE OF A VERY TOUGH CARSON CITY EAGLE. ONLY 70-90 KNOWN TO EXIST TODAY IN ALL GRADES. THERE ARE NO MINT STATE COINS GRADED AT PCGS. The third of 19 issues in the Carson City Mint Eagle series, the 1872-CC has an original mintage of just 4,600 pieces. This is a paltry total by any standard, and the 1872-CC would be a rare issue even if a decent percentage of the mintage survived. Unfortunately, there was essentially no interest in saving mintmarked coinage during the 1870s. Even if there was, ten dollars represented such a large sum of money at that time that we find it difficult to believe that many collectors would have been able to set aside an example of this issue. No, fortune did not shine on the 1872-CC Eagle. Instead, fate decided that the entire mintage be placed into circulation and the coins used until worn out or lost. A mere 60-70 coins are believed to have survived (per Winter and Halperin, 2001), not a single example of which is Mint State. The typically encountered 1872-CC Eagle grades VF or, at best, EF-40. AUs are of the utmost rarity and desirabiluty among CC-mint gold specialists. In high grades, the 1872-CC is similar in rarity to the 1873-CC and nearly on par with the fabled 1870-CC.