A rare U.S. quarter struck at the Carson City mint in 1870 sold for nearly $85,000 in an auction on Sunday.
The auction was organized by GreatCollection, and the Seated Liberty quarter sold for $84,375, according to the auction house.
The final price included a 12.5% buyer’s premium, and 48 bids were made before the gavel fell on the final price.
Only 8,340 pieces of the quarter were minted in Carson City, according to the auction listing, and it was the first 25-cent piece minted at the Nevada facility.
The obverse, designed by Christian Gobrecht, features Liberty seated on a rock and holding a shield that has “Liberty” inscribed on it. The reverse depicts a heraldic eagle clutching a shield, arrows and an olive branch, with the distinctive “CC” mark beneath its talons.
“As a first-year Carson City issue of 1870, it carries all the romance of the frontier mint whose CC mintmark collectors so prize,” Great Collection said in its auction listing.
The Carson City mint was built during the heyday of the Comstock Lode silver boom and officially opened in 1870, according to the U.S. Mint. Mostly silver coins -- although some gold ones -- were minted in Carson City from 1870 through 1885, and again from 1889 until the mint closed in 1893.
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