By Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

An 1895-S Eagle ‘made the news’! On June 21, Stack’s auctioned an Eliasberg ‘95-S in Rosemont, Illinois. This $10 gold coin is graded MS-66 by the Professional Coin Grading Service. This coin’s grade and rarity are central to a combination of factors that resulted in a stunning record price of $80,500.

The standard coin grading scale starts at Poor-01 and ends at 70. Most numbers in between are not used. A coin in Very Fine condition may grade VF-20, 25, 30, or 35. In the “Mint State” (uncirculated) range from 60 to 70, all eleven points are used. Coins that grade 65 and above are usually considered to be gems. For most late 19th century gold coin issues, less than one percent of the survivors will grade MS-66 or -67. For many dates, coins that grade MS-66, or higher, do not exist.

U.S. Ten Dollar gold coins are termed ‘Eagles.’ There are three types of Liberty Head Eagles: the ‘Type of 1838′ (1938-39), the ‘No Motto’ type (1939-66), and the ‘With Motto’ type (1866-1907). The motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ was added to the coin’s design in 1866.

The ‘S’ in the date, 1895-S, means that it was minted in San Francisco. The absence of a mintmark indicates that a coin was minted in Philadelphia. An ‘O’ refers to New Orleans, and a ‘CC’ mintmark indicates Carson City, Nevada. The $80,500 price is an auction record for the 1895-S date. It may be a record for a certified MS-66 grade Liberty Eagle of the ‘With Motto’ type?

In July 2003, Heritage auctioned a PCGS graded MS-67 1895-S for $49,450, which was the previous record for the date. A coin that grades MS-67 is typically worth much more than a coin of the same type and date that grades MS-66. In May 2005, Heritage auctioned a PCGS graded MS-64 1895-S for $23,000. Over the past several years, 1895-S Eagles that grade AU-58 have tended to sell at auction for between $1000 and $1500.

Why did this 1895-S realize so much! Consider PCGS graded MS-66 Eagles of the least rare dates of the ‘With Motto’ type, 1901, 1901-S, 1902-S, and 1903-S. These tend to realize between $5000 and $8200 at auction, depending upon the specific date, the characteristics of the individual coin, and then current market conditions. So, one of the least rare dates in MS-66 grade is likely to sell for less than one tenth as much as this MS-66 grade 1895-S Eagle.

Before answering the question of why it sold for $80,500, it makes sense to discuss the history and characteristics of this particular 1895-S Eagle. It was once in the Louis Eliasberg collection, which is the greatest and most complete collection of U.S. coins that was ever formed. Eliasberg’s gold coins, including this one, were auctioned by Bowers & Ruddy in 1982. More recently, it was carefully selected for the collection of Dr. Tory Prestera, who consigned it to Stack’s.

In 1942, Eliasberg purchased the famous collection of John Clapp in its entirety. Stack’s brokered the transaction. During the period from 1890 to 1920, Clapp acquired many U.S. coins of exceptional quality, and he knew not to clean, dip, or otherwise modify them. Indeed, Clapp obtained numerous gold and silver coins that, since 1988, have been graded from MS (or Proof) -66 to -69 by the PCGS or the Numismatic Guaranty Corp. (NGC). Many are the finest known pieces of their respective dates, or even of whole types..

This Clapp-Eliasberg-Prestera 1895-S has a very attractive obverse (front) and an extremely attractive reverse (back of the coin). As best as I can tell, this coin has never been dipped nor cleaned, and has natural green, rose and russet tones. When the obverse is viewed ’straight on’ it has a subtle, whitish-yellow overtone, and a subdued brilliance. The obverse is much lighter in color than most U.S. gold coins.

The reverse is more deeply colored. There are several patches of greenish-russet tones, some subtle and others somewhat rich and thick.

When the Eliasberg 1895-S is tilted under a light, it shows more personality. At some angles, light greenish-orange patches on the obverse radiate. At other angles, throughout the obverse fields, different shades of grass-green reveal themselves. When tilted, the reverse really comes alive. Green tones in the fields and light russet overtones on some of the design elements blend well with underlying cartwheel luster. It is a really cool coin.

Why did the Eliasberg-Prestera 1895-S not grade MS-67? There is not an obvious answer. Perhaps it may be upgraded?

Under five-times magnification, scattered small scratches can be found in the obverse fields, near Miss Liberty’s neck and near the first two stars. There are a group of miniscule contact marks where her neck meets her shoulder above the ‘9′ in 1895. Some small contact marks about stars 10 and 11 are hardly worth mentioning.

The reverse, by itself, certainly grades MS-67, at least. The coin, as a whole, probably grades a high-end MS-66, with a plausible claim to a MS-67 grade.

There may be an error in the PCGS population report, which states that there are two MS-66 grade 1895-S Eagles and zero MS-67 grade 1895-S Eagles. The Heritage auction archives indicate that Heritage auctioned a PCGS graded MS-67 piece in July 2003, for $49,450, as mentioned above.

The Heritage archives include an image of an 1895-S Eagle in a PCGS MS-67 holder. It is theoretically possible that someone could have removed this coin from its holder and returned the insert to PCGS. The NGC census reports, however, that NGC has not graded an 1895-S at a grade higher than MS-64. So, it probably was not submitted to NGC.

It is also possible that someone could have ‘cracked out’ the PCGS MS-67 grade 1895-S, and resubmitted it, in hopes of receiving a MS-68 grade, but took a loss by being downgraded to MS-66. Most likely, someone at PCGS made a clerical error.

A comparison of images indicates that the PCGS graded MS-67 1895-S that Heritage auctioned in 2003 is clearly different from the Eliasberg, PCGS graded MS-66 Eagle that Stack’s just sold. Also, on the MS-66 grade 1895-S, the Eliasberg pedigree is printed on the insert in the PCGS holder.

Coins with the Eliasberg pedigree are often worth more than coins of the same respective dates, types, and certified grades that do not have a famous pedigree. Furthermore, the special aesthetic characteristics of this 1895-S add to its value. While both the pedigree and the aesthetics are contributing factors, both such factors do not explain the $80,500 auction result.

The rarity of the 1895-S as a date also does not, by itself, explain the $80,500 result. A circulated 1895-S could be obtained for less than $1000. Moreover, there are forty to fifty dates of the same type, Liberty ‘With Motto’ (1866-1907), that are rarer than the 1895-S!

I tentatively hypothesize that the dozen rarest business strikes of this type are: 1875, 1873, 1883-O, 1876, 1872, 1877, 1867-S, 1879-CC, 1869, 1871, 1870-CC and 1877-CC. For these twelve dates, and more than thirty that follow, neither PCGS nor NGC has graded one Eagle as MS-66 or higher!

The rarest date for which a coin has been graded MS-66 is probably the 1883-S, which may very well be rarer than the 1895-S. For each, the 1883-S and the 1895-S Eagle, there are between 140 and 200 coins known. The total for the 1883-S is likely to be closer to 150, if that many, while it is likely that there are 175 to 200 1895-S Eagles. (Please remember that the data published by PCGS and NGC include a large number of resubmissions of the same coins.)

It is certainly true that the 1883-S and the 1895-S Eagle are in the same category of overall rarity. The PCGS reports grading one 1883-S as MS-66. As best as I can remember right now, I have never seen it.

There are probably between 115 and 160 1899-O Eagles in existence. It thus likely to be rarer than the 1895-S and might very well be rarer than the 1883-S Eagle. The PCGS has graded one 1899-O as MS-68, and no others in the MS-65 to -70 range, and the NGC has not graded any in this range.

Why is it important and relevant that a “MS-66” 1883-S and a “MS-68” 1899-O have been PCGS graded? Consider a category of coins that meet the following three criteria: (1) Each must be a ‘With Motto’ Liberty Head Eagle (1866-1907); (2) Each must be a business strike that has been graded “MS-66” or higher by PCGS or NGC; (3) Each must be of a date for which fewer than 200 are likely to exist in all grades! This is the category of supergrade ‘With Motto’ Eagles that are more than very rare!

In this ‘Very Rare Plus Supergrade’ category, could there be only four or five coins? It seems that there are two or three 1895-S Eagles, including the Clapp-Eliasberg-Prestera piece, the MS-66 1883-S and the MS-68 1899-O.

While multiple MS-66 or higher grade 1907-S, 1900-S, and 1906-O Eagles exist, it is likely that more than 200 of each of these dates are around. It could be strongly argued, however, that fewer than 200 1906-O Eagles survive. It is unlikely that the two NGC MS-66 grade pieces and the two PCGS MS-66 grade pieces amount to four different 1906-O Eagles, maybe two or three.

There is a somewhat good chance that there are fewer than 200 1897-O Eagles. If so, a PCGS MS-66 coin, an NGC MS-67 piece and a PCGS MS-67 would all be members of this category.

There could thus be ten coins in this ‘Very Rare Plus Supergrade’ category. If this category is expanded to admit dates for which as many as 250 exist, a logical definition of ‘Very Rare’, then there would be, at most, twenty ‘With Motto’ Eagles that are Very Rare as date and grade MS-66 or higher!

So, the Clapp-Eliasberg 1895-S Eagle is a Very Rare date and is among the finest of all Very Rare dates for an entire type! It is thus extra special as it both an absolute rarity and a condition rarity as a date and it holds a high honor among all Very Rare dates of a whole type.

Type coin collectors need only one example of each design type for their respective sets. Often, finding a supergrade example of one of the least rare dates in a series is very easy. Therefore, many type collectors welcome the challenge of searching for a high quality example of a truly rare date. Such type coin collectors will find the very attractive Eliasberg, MS-66 grade 1895-S to be especially desirable.

As I have pointed out in several articles, there are many collectors who enjoy owning very rare coins, even if such coins are not intended to be parts of sets. These collectors strongly contribute to the demand for high quality examples of very rare dates, such as the Eliasberg 1895-S Eagle.

The ‘With Motto’ Liberty Head Eagle type was minted for more than forty years, and, curiously, there may be fifty or more very rare dates. Among all the very rare dates, it is astounding that there is a total of fewer than twenty Eagles that grade MS-66 or higher. The Clapp-Eliasberg-Prestera 1895-S is one of those twenty, has an extremely important pedigree, and is a coin with a lot of personality.

In sum, although there are a small number of collectors who aim to complete sets of Liberty Head Eagles ‘by date,’ there are thousands of type coin collectors who strongly demand a MS-66 grade ‘With Motto’ Eagle of a very rare date, and there are collectors of assorted very rare dates who strongly desire MS-66 grade rarities. The key point is to view beyond the condition rarity of a MS-66 grade coin of just the 1895-S date and envision the condition rarity in total of all supergrade coins with very rare dates of this whole type.

© 2007 Greg Reynolds