1870-S $10 MS(PCGS#8659)

Harry W. Bass, Jr. IV

拍卖行

Bowers & Merena

批号

697

等级

MS61

价格

461,420

详细说明

Extraordinary 1870-S Eagle A Bass Collection Landmark Rich medium yellow gold with copper and steel highlights. Sharply struck and lustrous. This coin may be the finest specimen of the issue extant. 8,000 were struck, perhaps 100 survive in all grades. No more than a few of those exceed the EF level. David Akers described the 1870-S eagle in 1980: “The 1870-S is not often available in any grade, but when a specimen is offered for sale, it is generally only VF. A few EF specimens are known but I am unaware of any 1870-S that grades as high as AU and nothing close to Uncirculated is even rumored to exist.” Two years after he composed those words, this piece appeared can the market for the first time in a generation as part of our sale of the Eliasberg Collection and no finer coin has been auctioned since. An exquisite coin whose unsurpassed quality should make it a centerpiece of even the finest collection of gold coins. As we catalogue these pieces we cannot help but be impressed with what is at our fingertips. Here at Bowers and Merena Galleries we have had our share—even more than our share—of famous collections, great rarities, and other delicacies over the years. In fact, we are the only auction firm ever to have sold one each of every date and mintmark of United States gold coin from the 1849 $1 to the 1932 $20 (they would have had a 1933 $20 as well, had not Mr. Eliasberg turned his over to the Treasury Department when it was demanded that this be done). Among all these past treasures, the coins from the Bass Collection stand out for their combination of superb quality and also depth. Time and again a major rarity is represented by not one, but two or three pieces. And, if there is just one, chances are excellent that it is Condition Census or the finest known. Harry Bass spent more than three decades put¬ ting this collection together, working with an unlimited bud¬ get, in an era in which many great collections came to market. It is doubtful if these circumstances will ever be repeated. PCGS Population: 1; none finer. No other 1870-S eagle has been certified at the Mint State level by PCGS or NGC. Lapping line from rim near star 10. Another from right side of R in AMERICA. Mintmark high and tiny, repunched north and centered on left upright of N. From our sale of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, October 1982, Lot 733. Earlier from John H. Clapp and the Chapman brothers.