1874-CC $5 Gold CC Coin of the Week – 12-14-2009

1874-CC $5 Liberty Gold Piece

...from the drummer collection

With an original mintage of 21,198 the 1874-CC half eagle is the 11th (of 19) rarest coins from this series. There are 185-215 estimated survivors in all grades (figures courtesy of The Mint on Carson Street by Rusty Goe.)

All "CC" half eagles are Type II, Coronet head - left within a circle of stars, with the Motto "In God We Trust" on the ribbon above the eagle. The third Chief Engraver for the U.S. Mint Christian Gobrecht (b. 1785 - d. 1844) was the designer.

Price estimates (courtesy of U.S. Coin Digest 2009): VF-20: $850 XF-40: $1,700 AU-50: $9,500 MS-60: $36,000

All "CC" coins from 1874 represent a special and important year for the glorious mint on Carson Street. Sometime in the middle of August 1874, James Crawford replaced Frank Hetrick as the fourth superintendent of that institution. He held the post for more than ten years, became the "heart and soul" of the "CC" Mint and oversaw the finest years of its history.

In 1874, the Carson City mint produced six denominations: (SILVER) - seated dimes, half dollars and trade dollars. (GOLD) - half eagles, eagles and double eagles.

The 1874-CC half eagle is one of two "early dates" (the 1871-CC half eagle being the other) that are reasonably easy to obtain in lower grades. This date is usually found well worn. The coin shown here is from my own collection and is graded VF-30 by NGC. It possesses better than average detail and displays traces of luster on the obverse and reverse. It exhibits dark tobacco toning on both sides but heavier on the obverse. In my opinion, this is a desirable look for a circulated and historic antique "CC" gold coin. As most of us "CC" fans know, the gold coins produced at the Carson City mint were heavily used by the miners and pioneers of the day, they were rarely saved...this is what they're supposed to look like!

Most 1874-CC half eagles are in the VF grades or lower. This date becomes scarce in XF-45 and rare in lower AU. In the upper AU grades it becomes very rare and extremely rare in uncirculated. PCGS lists only two coins graded MS-62 as the finest known.

There are six die varieties currently known and it's possible that other combinations of these varieties exist. My coin shown here appears to be a VARIETY 1-A specimen. (Die varieties explained courtesy of Gold Coins of the Carson City Mint by Douglas Winter - Edited by James L. Halperin.)

VARIETY 1-A: "The date is large and slants slightly downwards. There is a prominently raised die mark on the bridge of the nose and a thin die scratch through the I in LIBERTY. The mintmark is widely spaced and level. It's positioned over the V in FIVE. Most examples of this variety show a clash mark from the eagles' beak to its right wing."

VARIETY 1-B: "The mintmark is closely spaced and the second C is higher than the first. The placement of the mintmark is further to the right with the second C over the VE in FIVE. The mintmark is sometimes extremely faint on this variety."

VARIETY 1-C: "The two C's are level and centered below the eagle. The mintmark is more sharply impressed than on reverses A or B, and appear to be slightly larger as well. There is a very obvious clashmark from the eagles' lower beak to the right wing. Many examples show four raised die scratches above the right wing."

VARIETY 2- "The date is placed very slightly differently than on the other obverse. There is no raised die mark on the bridge of the nose as on the other obverse nor is there the die scratch through the I in LIBERTY. The reverse is a reuse of the 1872-CC reverse B but with two clash marks from the eagles' beak to its right wing."

VARIETY 2-B, VARIETY 2-C: "These varieties combine the obverse and reverse described above."


1874 Historical Events:

January 31: Jesse James gang robs train at Gads Hill, Missouri

February 21: Oakland (CA) newspaper The Daily Tribune begins publication

March 10: Purdue University (Indiana) admits its first student

April 5: Composer Johann Strauss Sr.'s opera Die Fledermaus premieres in Vienna

May 20: Levi Strauss markets blue jeans with copper rivets...price; $13.50 per dozen

November 25: The U.S. Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the panic of 1873



By Michael Parrott (the drummer) C4OA LM-0023

Michael,

You might have noticed a flurry of posts by me in the last few days. I have to admit that I have been remiss. Because of my schedule, I always put off going to our fabulous website. It was always, "I'll get to it tomorrow." As a result, I was six months behind. I am proud to report that by staying up until 3:00 a.m. last night, I finally caught up. I have now read every post on the C4OA discussion board.

I hope everyone learns from my bad example. I literally spent hours catching up. Additionally, it didn't seem right to comment on a number of posts in such an untimely manner. I hereby promise to check in on a regular and frequent basis and encourage all the other C4OA members to do so as well. You won't regret it. By checking in frequently, you can save yourself a lot of catching up. Enough said.

Now it's time to get to the point of this reply. Michael, as always, your article was excellent. I want to commend you and the other members who have contributed to the Coin of the Week, especially John and Belay Off. As a relative newby to Carson City collecting, I learn something new every week. Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to seeing other members participate. I will be making my debut on April 11th. Please try and be kind.

Decline Don

You will do fine, Don. We look forward to it.

Hi Decline Don

Thank you so much for your kind words! You know, it can be tough sometimes to come up with great, info-packed articles when you're up against the hi calibre of writers we have in our C4OA. No matter what though, everyone has his or her own voice and way of saying things that bring equal validity to every subject presented. I consider myself blessed and honored to play even a small part in this blog-site and our C4Oa club and I'm glad to see all your new posts as well Don!

I look forward to seeing you again at one of our fun future "CC" events.

Michael the drummer

That is a very nice photo of the coin.

Greetings "Dad of two drummer"

Thank you for your nice comment about the picture of my 1874-CC $5 Liberty gold piece in the CC Coin of the Week post . I still have a long way to go to get the kind of pictures I want but this is a start! I'm flattered that you like my photo.

the drummer