1874-S NGC AU55 $5 gold *VERY RARE* NO MINT STATE EXAMPLES ARE KNOWN TO EXIST!

1874-S NGC AU55 $5 gold *VERY RARE* NO MINT STATE EXAMPLES ARE KNOWN TO EXIST!

here's another San Fran sleeper date that has a low original mintage and population numbers but still sells for less than what similar rarity sells for in other series. please forgive the photos- they were taken at the bank under poor lighting. this pretty little lady has great color and decent luster for the grade, the hue is a beautiful golden orange. it has good eye appeal for a circulated gold coin of the era. a truly difficult date to find in high grade and another difficult date to find in problem free condition. just how rare is this date? well, NGC has graded only 87 coins in all grades and conditions combined in their 30 years in the grading business, with many of those are re-submissions fishing for a higher grade and profit to the submitters. stack these numbers up against any 'rare' 1916-D dime, gem BU red 1909-S VDB cent or 1893-S Morgan dollar for relative rarity and sheer value. this is another sleeper that should not be ignored- it took us a lot longer to fill this hole in our set than many of the rarer Charlotte & Dahlonegas in fact. David Akers says the average grade for the issue, garnered from auction data, is F-19, just a lowly Fine, so even finding one in AU condition is a real treat. Akers also states that the 1874-S is "very rare in all grades and has never been available at auction better than XF and only a few times in that condition.". many numismatic researchers and scholars agree that if just several new collectors came into the series in a serious way, these would finally realize their true value due to the competition for super rare dates like this one. the NGC online price guide puts an average AU55 at $6,000.00 and PCGS pegs it at $6,900.00, with a AU58 graded piece selling for closer to fifteen thousand dollars and making this the go-to coin to fill that space in your set.

NOTE: I have all the scarce and rare San Francisco issues in NGC and PCGS holders listed presently also.

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