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Mintage: 7,416

The 1873-CC is the second rarest half eagle from this mint, trailing only the 1870-CC. The 1873-CC, of course, lacks the first-year-of-issue cachet that the 1870-CC and its fame has lagged a bit as a result. But in recent years, Carson City gold specialists have learned just how rare this date is, especially in grades above EF40. I believe that fewer than 75 exist in all grades and the 1873-CC is extremely rare in properly graded AU with fewer than ten known. I sold the finest known 1873-CC last year (a wonderful PCGS MS62) but it has been a considerable amount of time since I've offered an AU.

This example shows rich natural green-gold on the obverse and reverse. There are a few minor ticks on the obverse which are not out of keeping with the grade; the reverse is clean and choice. The strike is sharper than usual for the issue with only minor weakness noted at the centers; the borders are sharp. PCGS has graded just two in this grade with five finer. The finer pieces include three in AU55 and two in Uncirculated. All of the finer pieces are off the market in tightly-held collections.

Mintage: 62,710

Strong mintmark variety. This is a coin that epitomizes the concept of originality and it is a good piece to illustrate why the AU58 grade offers the savvy collector such good value. The typical 1851-D half eagle is weakly struck and densely abraded but this is a notable exception to these rules. While common enough in lower grades, the 1851-D half eagle becomes quite rare in properly graded AU58 and fully Uncirculated pieces are exceedingly rare with no more than four or five accounted for.