1877-CC

Carson City struck just 42,565 double eagles in 1877, and every one of them carried a reverse the mountain mint had never used before. The Type 3 design replaced the abbreviated "TWENTY D." legend that ran from 1866 through 1876 with the fully spelled "TWENTY DOLLARS," a change introduced across the federal mints that year. As the inaugural Type 3 production from Carson City, the issue holds a documented first-year-of-design status that collectors of the CC mint set treat as a transitional anchor between the Type 2 closeout of 1876 and the long Type 3 run that followed at Carson City through 1893.

Doug Winter places the 1877-CC in the middle tier of Carson City double eagles for overall difficulty, more available than the 1870-CC through 1873-CC keys but scarcer than the better-supplied 1875-CC and 1876-CC. Surviving population is generally estimated at several hundred examples across all grades, with most certified pieces clustering in VF and EF. Mint State coins are legitimately rare: Winter has noted that the issue is overrated in MS60 to MS61 but remains very difficult above MS62, a grade that effectively functions as a ceiling for the date in third-party holders. Strikes show the soft stars and bag-marked fields typical of CC gold of the period.

Authentication concerns center on added-mintmark forgeries built from common Philadelphia 1877 double eagles, where a "CC" punch is grafted into the reverse field above the eye-catching premium gap; verification of mintmark seating and field depth is essential before purchase, and major-house provenance or PCGS / NGC encapsulation remains the practical safeguard. Compared to the 1876-CC closing out the Type 2 series and the slightly more available 1878-CC that followed, the 1877-CC occupies a single-year design crossover within the Carson City run. For broader context, see the Liberty Head Double Eagle series history.