At our upcoming Whitman Baltimore Winter Expo, Stack’s Bowers will be offering an 1891 Ultra Cameo Liberty Head Double Eagle that will have to be seen to be believed.
The Philadelphia Mint produced only 52 Proof double eagles in 1891 using a single pair of dies that have recently become known as JD-1 (United States Proof Coins, Volume IV: Gold, by John W. Dannreuther, 2018). As with all Proof Liberty Head double eagles, the 1891 is a major numismatic rarity at all levels of preservation. Dannreuther estimates that only 18 to 22 coins are extant, a bit higher number than those of contemporary Proof double eagle issues with similar mintages. The reason for this, in Dannreuther’s words:
“The 1,390 mintage of the circulation strikes [from the Philadelphia Mint that year] makes date pressure the primary reason that more 1891 Proofs have survived than for 1890 that had an almost identical production. This is a common theme for all United States issues with low circulation strike outputs. Collectors would not spend a Proof issue if they knew that other collectors would pay a premium for their coins or they could not easily replace their Proof with a commercial strike.”