1893-CC $20 MS62 Certification #40954624, PCGS #9023

1893-CC $20 MS62 PCGS. Variety 2-A. The 1893-CC Liberty double eagle claims a small final-year mintage of 18,402 pieces. The issue is surprisingly available in lower grades, and can only be called scarce at the MS62 grade level, but finer coins are rare. This impressive MS62 example exhibits sharply detailed design elements throughout. A spike extends from the base of Liberty's neck and a die crack shows through the letters TAT in STATES. The lightly marked yellow and rose-gold surfaces radiate vibrant mint luster from both sides. The overall presentation is quite attractive. PCGS has graded only 25 numerically finer examples (12/20).(Registry values: N2998

David Akers (1975/88)

Because of its low mintage, the 1893-CC is held in much higher regard than its true rarity warrants. It is not as rare as the 1892-CC, particularly in Unc., and I rank it only 13th out of 19 Carson City Mint Double Eagles in terms of overall rarity. In mint state, the 1893-CC is at least as common as any other CC twenty and it quite likely is the most common. Literally hundreds of uncs exist (most of them coming from Europe in the late 1960's) and many of them are choice or gem quality. Today, of course, they have all been dispersed and so newcomers to numismatics, not having seen many 1893-CC Double Eagles themselves, may find it hard to believe this issue is really relatively common in Unc., but it definitely is. To be sure, it is not common in the same sense that a 1904 is, but a nice Unc. can be found without a great amount of time or effort expended.