In my experience, any double eagle from New Orleans is very rare in properly graded MS62 and higher grades. When you add the parameters of being slabbed by PCGS and approved by CAC, you are talking about an extremely rare commodity.

*1851-O $20.00 PCGS MS62, as photographed for Doug’s Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint book.*

Let’s take a look at how many Type One and Type Three New Orleans double eagles with CAC approval even exist before we break down these specific coins.

    DATE
    # GRADED BY 
PCGS IN 62/63*
    # APPROVED BY 
 CAC IN 62/63 
  


    1850-O/
Type 1
    0
    0
  

    1851-O
    10
    1 (62)
  

    1852-O
    8
    0
  

    1853-O
    1
    1 (63)
  

    1854-O
    0
    0
  

    1855-O
    0
    0
  

    1856-O
    0
    0
  

    1857-O
    2
    2 (62/63)
  

    1858-O
    1
    0
  

    1859-O
    0
    0
  

    1860-O
    0
    28
  

    1861-O
    0

    0

  

    1879-O/
Type 3
    1
    0
  

This gives a total of just four potential coins. The 1851-O and the 1853-O are owned by collector DL Hansen, and are likely not going to be available for many years to come. Both are graded by PCGS and the latter is unique in Uncirculated. If available, it would likely sell in excess of $250,000.

The finer of the two 1857-O double eagles is graded MS63 by PCGS and it is also owned by DL Hansen. This means that it is unlikely to become available.

This leaves us with just one coin: the 1857-O graded MS62 by PCGS. This coin was discovered in Europe in June 2016, and it has never come up for sale either at auction or via private treaty sale. I am not aware of its current status. If it were available, it would likely sell for around $200,000.

Given these circumstances, I’d say that as of October 2021, locating a CAC approved New Orleans double eagle in PCGS/CAC MS62 or MS63 is virtually impossible.

What if the parameters are relaxed and we include coins graded MS60 and MS61? If this is done then the following coins would added to the pool of potential purchases:

1850-O: 1 (61)

1851-O: 2 (60,61)

1852-O: 2 (60,61)

The 1850 graded PCGS/CAC MS61 last sold in June 2014 for $111,625 and it hasn’t reappeared since. It would likely bring $150,000 or more today.

Neither of the 1851-Os graded MS60 or MS61 by PCGS and approved by CAC has ever appeared at auction. I can’t recall having seen either coin.

One of the 1852-O double eagles—the one graded PCGS/CAC MS60—brought a very reasonable $32,900 when it was last sold as Heritage 4/2017: 4305.

This makes a total of five coins which could potentially be available but none seems to be available right now, and the MS60 coins are likely not nice enough for most collectors building a high-end set of Type One double eagles.

DOUBLE EAGLES