1874 GOLD $20 LIBERTY
PCGS MS61
This uncirculated gold coin survived for almost 150 years, and have never been previously owned since minted. PCGS Price Guide is at $4,500, and NGC Price Guide is at $5,000, so this is a great buy at just $4,375!144 years ago the Philadelphia Mint only struck 366,000 gold Double Eagles in 1874, making them very scarce today. Back then $20 was a lot of money, and these coins were mostly used in large banking transactions. This coin in graded and certified in Mint State 61. To put this in perspective, PCGS has graded 241 coins and NGC has only certified 171 coins in MS61. So, surviving examples in this uncirculated condition today are in very high demand.
The 1874 is a very popular Type-II variety, and very collectable, with the motto ''In God We Trust.'' Type II $20 gold (1866-1876) are significantly rarer than coins minted in later years, creating leveraged value. Increases in value are due to supply/demand fundamentals, since they don't mint 1874 $20 gold pieces anymore.
This big and beautiful gold coin is a glimpse back to 1874, and is a 144 year old tangible piece of American history. The Black Hills Gold Rush began in the Dakota Territory following Custer's Expedition confirmed the gold discovery. The worst grasshopper plague in U.S. history scourged the Great Plains from the Dakotas to northern Texas. The birth of the Republican Party Elephant began in a cartoon that first that appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1874. The first public zoo in the U.S. opened in Philadelphia with support from the Smithsonian, admission was *25 cents. (*FYI - This 1874 Gold piece would pay for 80 admissions to view over 1,000 exotic animals from the around the world)
