Flowing Hair Stella Top NGC-graded Coin in Stack’s Bowers Sale

An 1879 Flowing Hair Stella certified by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation® (NGC®)  topped the results among NGC-graded coins of a May 23 Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction by realizing $234,000.

This 1879 Flowing Hair Stella is graded NGC PF 66 Ultra Cameo. Realized: $234,000. Click images to enlarge.

The gold coin was graded NGC PF 66 Ultra Cameo. All but one of the top 10 NGC-graded coins were gold.

Another gold rarity, an 1898 Liberty Head Double Eagle graded NGC PF 65 Cameo, realized $96,000 in the auction held in Baltimore.

Two gold coins issued to commemorate a world’s fair held in San Francisco to celebrate completion of the Panama Canal rounded out the top four of the auction’s coins certified by NGC.

A 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition $50 Octagonal graded NGC MS 63 realized $72,000. A 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition $50 Round graded NGC MS 62 realized $63,000.

An 1834 Cross 4 Classic $5 graded NGC MS 64 realized $60,000. An 1801 Capped Bust Right $10 graded NGC MS 63 realized $40,800. An 1852 Augustus Humbert $50 graded NGC AU 50 realized $38,400. The coin was an example of the earliest coins minted in Gold Rush-era California by a former New York watchmaker, Augustus Humbert, who was the head of the first US assay office in the state.

The top silver coin in the auction was an 1895 Morgan Silver Dollar graded NGC PF 53 that realized $36,000. It was followed by an 1895 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle graded NGC 67 Ultra Cameo that realized $28,800 and an 1885 Gold Dollar graded NGC PF 67 Ultra Cameo that realized $25,200.

Nine more coins realized five-digit sums:

• An 1852 Liberty Seated Silver Dollar graded NGC AU Details, Polished ($21,600)
• An (1837-42) C. Bechtler $2.5 64G, Uneven 22C graded NGC MS 61 ($18,000)
• An 1830/29 Capped Bust Dime graded NGC MS 66★ ($15,600)
• A 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle graded NGC MS 65 ($15,600)
• An 1871 Pattern Half Dollar graded NGC PF 65+ RD Ultra Cameo ($15,600)
• A 1925 Fort Vancouver Half Dollar graded NGC MS 68 ($14,400)
• An 1827 Capped Bust Dime graded NGC MS 66 ($13,200)
• An 1866-S No Motto Double Eagle graded NGC XF 40 ($13,200)
• An 1891-CC Morgan Silver Dollar graded NGC MS 66+ ($10,800)