Scarce Gold At Common-Date Price

Here's another gold coin that was priced at common-date value. This one was in a lot of 2 half eagles auctioned by Stack's several years ago, when the gold price was less than $500/oz. My cost was $234 for the pair ($117 each). The 1888 Philadelphia coin has a small mintage of 18,201 pieces. This otherwise AU example had been cleaned and has impaired luster as a result, but it was still a bargain at basically a bullion price. I believe similar bargains for under-valued scarce dates may be found today. Of course, the baseline price will be high due to the current spot gold price.