An 1876-CC 20-cent piece will highlight Bowers and Merena’s Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention auction slated for three-sessions June 11-12.
The coin is graded AU-58 by the Professional Coin Grading Service and the firm says it has a five-generation history.
As B&M relates it, the 20-cent piece is one of 12-20 known. It was received in 1876 in circulation in Virginia City, Nev., by John Seagraves Pick.
Unusual for any lot description, the catalog points out that it has the lowest grade of any surviving example because it is the only 1876-CC 20-cent piece known to either PCGS or Numismatic Guaranty Corp. in a circulated grade. It has been kept in the Pick/Jurgensen family for the last 133 years.
Pick’s son, John William Pick, who was born in Virginia City in 1872, got the coin from his father. He passed it to his daughter, Virginia Pick Jurgensen, who was born in 1904 and survived the San Francisco earthquake when she was just 2 years old; she kept the coin for 47 years until her death in 1993. It then went to her son, Wilfred Pick Jurgensen. When he died at age 74, the 20-cent piece was inherited by his widow, Jean Lorraine Jurgensen, and son, Steven Frederick Jurgensen.
“This is a very special coin and it is an honor to offer it at auction to the numismatic world for the first time ever,” said Steve Deeds, president of Bowers and Merena.
The 2,500 auction also features a PCGS MS-64 1915-S round Panama-Pacific gold $50 commemorative. It has a net mintage of just 483 pieces.
An octagonal example, this one graded MS-64 by NGC, will also go on the block. It has a mintage of 645.
Another gold highlight is an AU-55 1796 $10, Bust Right, BD-1, HBCC-3174, Taraszka-6, the only known dies, Rarity-4. The catalog notes minimal rub and overall sharp features. Also noted is a PCGS Population of 18, with 22 finer, just 11 of which are Mint State.
Other gold highlights include an 1853 U.S. Assay Office of Gold $20, K-18, Rarity-2, 900 THOUS, graded NGC MS-64 and a 1920-S Saint-Gaudens double eagle in PCGS MS-63.
Among the nongold highlights is a 1909 VDB Lincoln cent that is graded Proof-65 Brown by NGC
Working up the denominational scale from there, an 1859 Seated Liberty quarter, Briggs 1-B. Type I/II, is graded Proof-67 by NGC and an 1836 Gobrecht dollar with the name on the base, Judd-60, original, Pollock-65, Rarity-1, grades NGC Proof-62.
The auction also includes paper money.
Lots can be viewed online at www.bowersandmerena.com. Printed catalogs are available by calling (800) 458-4646.
