Lot 1715
1873 $20 Liberty. Open 3. PCGS graded AU-55. Frosty and nice for the grade, and an ideal specimen to represent the Type 2 design.
During the 19th century, the federal government in Washington, D.C. was generally happy to do favors for Wall Street financiers. Railroad tycoons, who often used their railroads as instruments of extravagant speculation, enjoyed subsidies, tax exemptions, loans, and a whole smorgasbord of financial fringe benefits supplied by pliable congressmen and senators (not to mention armadas of state and local officials).
The Crédit Mobilier was a joint-stock company organized in 1863 and reorganized in 1867 to build the Union Pacific Railroad. It was involved in such a scandal in 1872 in which high government officials were accused of accepting bribes. The firm finally blew up in the credit collapse and ensuing Panic of 1873, the year of this $20 gold piece. (It was the Enron or Bear Stearns of its day.) (PCGS # 8967) .
Estimated Value $1,300 - 1,350.
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| Realized $1,610 |
