The Admiral Collection, featuring one of the finest collections of Coronet gold $10 eagles ever assembled, set records at Heritage’s Feb. 22 to 26 Long Beach Expo auction. An 1875 eagle topped bidding, followed by two New Orleans Mint issues, both certified by Professional Coin Grading Service and carrying green Certified Acceptance Corp. stickers: an 1842-O Coronet eagle graded Mint State 63 and an 1897-O eagle graded MS-67 that brought $288,000 and $264,000, respectively.

Defining symbols and figures on paper money. Also in this issue, we take a look at a few of the dozens of abbreviations in numismatics.

Here is an About Uncirculated example that shows the collecting challenges inherent in this long-running series, with a result that indicates the strong demand for choice representatives.

The Lot:

1867-S Coronet gold $10 eagle, AU-58, with a CAC sticker

The Price:

$45,600

The Story:

Among the keys in the Coronet $10 eagle series, the San Francisco Mint issues are often considered underappreciated — especially when compared to their Carson City Mint counterparts. For example, the 1867-S eagle has a mintage of 9,000 pieces but a very low survival rate with an estimated 50 to 75 surviving today. Mint State examples are unknown, and as the description observes, “This is one of the top four examples certified (all are at NGC), and it is the only one among them with a CAC approval sticker.”

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The strike is sharper than often seen and only light friction at the high points on the obverse, Liberty’s cheek and hair bun, keep it from a Mint State grade. The lustrous survivor sold for $45,600, far exceeding the $17,625 that a different NGC AU-58 example realized at a February 2014 Heritage auction. Before that, the only other auction offering of an AU-58 example was at a 2005 Superior Galleries auction where one sold for $18,975.