Owner Comments:
This coin photographs beautifully.
It has everything to do with the wear of the coin and the remaining luster just forward of Liberty's eye — as though there is a vision of the future.
It is the first rare coin I ever purchased and I was drawn to the Carson City double CC mintmark. That, and the lore of Nevada prospecting.
When I got the coin — an Internet website purchase — and since it was the first rare gold coin I had ever seen, I was immediately struck by the dark-reddish-gold color it possessed. In hand, when I viewed those double eights, the coin took on a very deep, historically-rich, character. Add to it the overall symmetry of the "1881" date, and I realized how very special it was, and it explained why I couldn't get the coin dealer to budge an inch on price. (did get the dealer to throw in a free copy of the "Red Book")
And I thought all gold coins would look like this. (little did I know)
From my paperwork records, this coin was originally purchased as PCGS AU 53. It was sent to NCS for conservation to remove what looked like a small splinter on the reverse, and then go on to NGC for crossing-over and placement into a new Scratch-Resistant EdgeView Holder.
Now in an NGC white-bordering slab, successfully crossed — same grade as before — and the small splinter removed, this coin has really come into its own… satisfying the 1880s decade and the $10 Coronet design.
So very pleased, and thus began my gold coin collection.