Lot 2450
1869 $5 Liberty. NGC graded AU-58. A few marks on the jaw and neck of this scarce 1869 eagle: only 1,855 pieces minted. Very scarce date. Nice prooflike surfaces (PCGS # 8317) .
A famous gold market "corner" took place on Wall Street on a Friday in the autumn of 1869, the year of this $10 gold coin. Two cadgey speculators, Gould and Fisk, parleyed their "position" in gold into a near corner. They would have succeeded, too, had not President Grant instructed his Treasury Secretary to release some of the government's gold into the market to stem the buying frenzy. Prices in the metals markets, which had gone to a premium of 42% over par during the heat of the action, plummeted. And it took many months for international trade to return to normal afterwards. The Gould-Fisk manipulation would go down in the history books under the name of Black Friday.
Estimated Value $4,200 - 4,500.
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