1862 $20.00 PCGS AU53

The 1862 is the rarest Philadelphia double eagle struck up through 1881 (not including, obviously, the exceedingly rare 1861 Paquet reverse). For many years it was an obscure issue that I literally had to beg collectors to buy. Today, when nice examples are offered, they cause considerable excitement. I recently offered a nice PCGS EF40 example of this date and within a day of listing on my website, I had six orders for it. That's why I'm pleased and somewhat amazed to be offering a second example; and in PCGS AU53, no less! This example is very clean for the issue and has far fewer marks than what is typically seen on this usually-baggy date. The color is a light to medium green-gold with orange tinges and there are a few areas of deeper color in the reverse fields. Since 1994, there are only nine auction records for this date in AU53. That's an average of one coin in AU53 every two years or so; proving the difficulty of finding this date in the lower AU grades. If you collect Type Ones or you fancy Civil war gold coins, you know how tough this date is and what an important opportunity this represents.