1874-CC $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle PCGS AU55

Here’s a golden relic, one that would be perfect for the enthusiast of Carson City Mint gold issues: an 1874-CC Double Eagle. PCGS has graded 144 as AU55 with 154 finer. Collectors Universe gives this issue a price of $11,000.00 in AU55.

Virginia & Truckee "Tahoe", 1875, on display at Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasberg. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The year 1864 saw Carson City (formally called simply 'Carson') confirmed as the permanent capital of Nevada with statehood. Thus economic development was no longer solely dependent upon the productivity of the silver and gold mines of the Comstock Lode. Until the decline of those mines in the 1880s, they were the focus of Carson City's economic importance as a freight and staging center, as well as a significant location for much of the timber harvest of the Lake Tahoe basin.

The Carson City Mint was completed in 1869 and today serves as the Nevada State Museum. The Virginia & Truckee (V&T) Railroad was completed between Virginia City (the location of the Comstock Lode) and Carson City in 1867, with the main offices and shops of the railroad located in Carson City. By 1874, the year the Comstock mines reached their peak of production, 36 trains a day passed through Carson City.