Heritage’s January 14-19 FUN US Coins Signature® Auction will include the same array of spectacular treasures collectors have come to expect from the world’s leading numismatics auctioneer.
Among the treasures that will be in play is an array of extraordinary $20 gold coins from the Mississippi Collection of Double Eagles.
"Condition, completeness and rarity are three of the prime criteria for any collector considering coins to add to a collection," says Sam Foose, Consignment Director of Numismatics at Heritage Auctions. "The consignor, who spent more than half a century putting together this incredible collection, understood and followed those ideas. Double eagles are important coins to the most serious collectors of elite American coins, and not only does this collection have all of the rare key dates, but he also has them in top condition. There are some truly extraordinary coins here, pieces that will become strong additions to their next collections."
Highlights from the top selections in the Mississippi Collection of Double Eagles include, but are not limited to:
A 1927-D Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, MS65+ PCGS. CAC is the rarest regular-issue copper, silver or gold 20th-century American coin. It is one of just seven examples likely within reach of the collecting public, and one of an entire surviving population of just 12 or 13. The 1927-D was one of 16 gold coins from earlier dates that the Treasury Department was offering to collectors for face value plus shipping in the summer of 1932, most of which must have come from collectors who took advantage of offers like this.
The second-finest among just 92 proof-only examples struck of an 1883 Double Eagle, PR66 Deep Cameo PCGS first surfaced in Ed Frossard’s catalog of the Howard Newcomb and Edmund R. Wolcott Collections in May of 1901, where it was described simply as, "1883 Brilliant proof." It was sold for $22 to collector John M. Clapp, whose collection was passed down after his death to his son, John H. Clapp, who kept it until he died in 1940. The Clapp Estate sold the collection intact to Baltimore financier Louis E. Eliasberg in a record-setting private transaction in 1942.
Only one example of the 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle is legal to own, making the 1932 Saint-Gaudens Twenty, MS64 PCGS CAC the final collectible issue of the extremely popular series. Despite a substantial reported mintage of more than 1.1 million pieces, the 1932 double eagle is one of the most elusive issues of the entire series. Roger W. Burdette notes just 175 examples were held outside of vault storage and available to the public after the untested assay coins were returned (43 defective coins were counted in the reported figure to balance the bullion accounts at the end of the fiscal year). Sales records indicate 113 were sold to individuals and museums, but a few more may have been paid out for bullion deposits or exchanged for other gold coins. The offered example is one of just 33 graded in 64 (four in 64+), with only 43 finer.
A 1907 $20 High Relief PR66 NGC is a gorgeous proof example of the popular rarity designed by the artist who has been referred to as "the American Michelangelo" based on his design for the double eagle on the winged goddess of Victory that forms part of the General William Tecumseh Sherman statue at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in New York City. Perhaps less well known is the fact that Saint-Gaudens based the statue of Victory on the likeness of his mistress: Davida Clark. The remarkably clear details spotlight the clear strike and superb preservation that earn this spectacular coin its proof status.
Images and information about all lots in the Mississippi Collection of Double Eagles can be found at HA.com/1380.
About Heritage Auctions
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
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