1880-CC $5 Liberty Head Half Eagle PCGS AU55 Ex. Rian's Bequest Collection

Imagine adding this golden relic from the Carson City mint to your coin collection. Out of its low mintage of 51,017, only 354 have been graded by PCGS. Of those, there are 51 in AU55 with 56 finer.

A Carson City $5 gold piece in AU55 is considered a high state of preservation, for in the American West from the 1850s onward, paper money was contemptuously derided. That attitude made gold coins important in day-to-day business transactions, and they became the accepted--and embraced--method of payment in the Old West. That is why so many Carson City half eagles are found in relatively low grades today in the 21st century. More than most other Liberty head half eagles, those from the Carson City Mint remain extremely popular and have grown in value over the years. Among the reasons for this is the romance associated with the Wild West, the Comstock Lode, and the Carson City Mint.

Annie Oakley, the star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and the inspiration behind the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. She traveled the Old West and spent gold coins that carried the famed 'CC' mintmark.