1888-S $20 MS62 Certification #39429384, PCGS #9009

PCGS MS62. Stacks description: LOT DESCRIPTION 1888-S Liberty Head Double Eagle. MS-62 (PCGS). Delightful rose-orange surfaces are further adorned with billowy mint frost. A smartly impressed and inviting BU example. A mintage of 859,600 double eagles was recorded for the San Francisco Mint in 1888, amounting to a face value of $17,192,000. The vast majority of these probably served extensively in the daily needs of commerce, while others were used for overseas trade or kept on reserve for the redemption of paper currency. Back in 1982, David W. Akers reported appearances of Uncirculated examples in only about 10% of the major auction sales examined by him while preparing his celebrated double eagle opus. He regarded the issue as "moderately scarce" in Mint State. In subsequent years, the number of Mint State examples increased dramatically, though they remain scarce any finer than MS-62. Provenance: From the Fairmont Collection. PCGS# 9009. NGC ID: 26BU.

David Akers (1975/88)

The 1888-S is essentially equal in both population rarity and condition rarity to the 1885-S. It is also similar in overall rarity to the 1879-S, 1882-S, 1892-S, 1893-S, 1901-S and 1905-S although it is not as rare as the first two in high grade. The 1888-S cannot really be called scarce in the circulated grades but Unc-60 specimens are moderately scarce. Choice mint state examples are very scarce and true gems are unquestionably rare.

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Ron Guth

The Saddle Ridge Hoard of gold coins, discovered in northern California in 2013, contained sixty-two 1888-S Double Eagles, including seven Mint State examples.  The best coins of this group were six MS64s.