Sept. 18, 2009Written by John Dale
“Big things come in small packages.”
An old saying like that sticks around for the truth that’s in it, and the Little Rock Collection is as good a reason as any to trot it out. The Little Rock Collection doesn’t appear on the Heritage Web site yet (that’ll come in the next few weeks, when the October Dallas U.S. Coin Auction comes out of previews), and when it does appear, it won’t take up much real estate on anyone’s monitor. There are just seven lots in it, you see.
On the printed page, however, the Little Rock Collection is going to make itself known: out of seven lots, five of them will have a whole page to themselves, and the other two - the relative laggards of the bunch - aren’t far behind.
As I type this, all seven of the coins in the Little Rock Collection are imaged, though two have not been described. Coincidentally, those two are the “laggards” that just missed out on landing a full page in the catalog. I’ll touch on those two coins briefly and then continue on to the already-cataloged pieces.
The two undescribed coins are Liberty double eagles. First is an 1871-CC double eagle graded AU55 by NGC, and while I haven’t had the chance to check this coin in person, from the images it looks gorgeous. Early Carson City gold is a longtime collector favorite, and that interest is almost certain to carry over for this AU55 coin - AU55 is an excellent grade by the 1871-CC double eagle standards.
Then there’s the 1892 double eagle graded MS62 by PCGS, one of just 4,430 business strikes made for the year. While the 1880s has a string of low-mintage or (no-mintage) Philadelphia business strike issues, the trend continued only briefly in the 1890s.
In fact, the 1892 double eagle is the last $20 gold piece to have a four-figure production total. Once again, I don’t have access to the coin proper, but it’s pictured on the Web, and I like what I see.
Next time: two Liberty double eagles, three Saint-Gaudens eagles, five full pages. See you then!
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