1863 $20.00 NGC AU58

The 1863 is the third rarest Type One double eagle from this mint, after the 1862 and the 1859. But because of its Civil War date of issue it is generally in greater demand than the latter. It is a hard issue to find in the higher AU grades and it is rare (and expensive) in Uncirculated. This light yellow-gold example shows no real wear to speak of; just some light friction on the face of Liberty. The left obverse field shows a cluster of small marks near the outline of the portrait while the reverse is clean save for a small spot on the left side of the shield. The most recent auction price realized (APR) for this date in AU58 is Heritage 3/11: 4926 (a PCGS coin) that brought $14,953 in their March 2011 sale. I have had the good fortune of selling two other AU58 examples of this popular issue in the last three months and both sold quickly (with multiple orders received on the first day they were listed on my website).