1877 1c Indian Head Cent PCGS AU 50 CAC *Die Pair #1* (Copy)
The 1877 is THE Key Date of the Indian Head Cent series. With the 2nd lowest mintage, 852,000, in the series, many of these coins were melted down during the Reconstruction Era, with surviving mintages estimated to be far lower than the suggested 800k. Collectors were hardly saving coins at the time either, thus creating much fewer surviving examples, especially in high grades, than the technically lowest-minted 09-S.
This example is a beautiful chocolate brown example with an original patina. Circulated 1877s typically come with a myriad of problems with strike-through depressions, weak strikes, excess wear, and grade-flation from the third party grading services. Take a look at some auction archieves and you’ll see yourself. The only flaw of this coin is the slightly-weak strike on the top three tail feathers, a die-specific feature as this coin comes from Die Pair #1. Die Pair is characterized by a closely-spaced date, a broken D hub in UNITED, and usually with a weak strike due to skewed dies quickly into production. Compared to other Die #1 examples, this one has a fairly strong strike in OF AMERICA remaining and the feather weakness is on par with other examples, including Mint State ones with this die 1 pairing.
CAC has only certified 13 examples in AU 50, with Eagle Eye Rare Coins PhotoSeal Database only showing 1 example. Simply put, a properly-graded 1877 in AU 50 is extremely rare!
The 1877 is THE Key Date of the Indian Head Cent series. With the 2nd lowest mintage, 852,000, in the series, many of these coins were melted down during the Reconstruction Era, with surviving mintages estimated to be far lower than the suggested 800k. Collectors were hardly saving coins at the time either, thus creating much fewer surviving examples, especially in high grades, than the technically lowest-minted 09-S.
This example is a beautiful chocolate brown example with an original patina. Circulated 1877s typically come with a myriad of problems with strike-through depressions, weak strikes, excess wear, and grade-flation from the third party grading services. Take a look at some auction archieves and you’ll see yourself. The only flaw of this coin is the slightly-weak strike on the top three tail feathers, a die-specific feature as this coin comes from Die Pair #1. Die Pair is characterized by a closely-spaced date, a broken D hub in UNITED, and usually with a weak strike due to skewed dies quickly into production. Compared to other Die #1 examples, this one has a fairly strong strike in OF AMERICA remaining and the feather weakness is on par with other examples, including Mint State ones with this die 1 pairing.
CAC has only certified 13 examples in AU 50, with Eagle Eye Rare Coins PhotoSeal Database only showing 1 example. Simply put, a properly-graded 1877 in AU 50 is extremely rare!
The 1877 is THE Key Date of the Indian Head Cent series. With the 2nd lowest mintage, 852,000, in the series, many of these coins were melted down during the Reconstruction Era, with surviving mintages estimated to be far lower than the suggested 800k. Collectors were hardly saving coins at the time either, thus creating much fewer surviving examples, especially in high grades, than the technically lowest-minted 09-S.
This example is a beautiful chocolate brown example with an original patina. Circulated 1877s typically come with a myriad of problems with strike-through depressions, weak strikes, excess wear, and grade-flation from the third party grading services. Take a look at some auction archieves and you’ll see yourself. The only flaw of this coin is the slightly-weak strike on the top three tail feathers, a die-specific feature as this coin comes from Die Pair #1. Die Pair is characterized by a closely-spaced date, a broken D hub in UNITED, and usually with a weak strike due to skewed dies quickly into production. Compared to other Die #1 examples, this one has a fairly strong strike in OF AMERICA remaining and the feather weakness is on par with other examples, including Mint State ones with this die 1 pairing.
CAC has only certified 13 examples in AU 50, with Eagle Eye Rare Coins PhotoSeal Database only showing 1 example. Simply put, a properly-graded 1877 in AU 50 is extremely rare!