Winter-1. Small O mintmark.

The 1840-O quarter eagle is a numismatically significant issue as it the first Liberty Head quarter eagle. It is common is grades through AU53 and nice quality, well-struck AU55 and AU58 coins are scarce. There are an estimated 10 or so known in Uncirculated, with the single finest a PCGS MS65 which I sold around 20 years ago to the New England Collection.

This coin is a duplicate from the New England Collection, which represents the single best set of gold coins from the New Orleans mint which has ever been assembled. It is well-struck for this issue with some minor areas of weakness seen at the centers and on the radial lines of the stars. In my experience, it is quite challenging to locate an example of this issue that is well-defined at the centers. The luster is bold and undisturbed, while the surfaces are clean for the grade. Some even yellow-gold and greenish hues are seen on both sides.

The PCGS Price Guide for the 1840-O $2.50 in PCGS MS62 is $16,500. There have been six graded in MS62 with four better: one each in MS63, MS63+, MS64, and MS65.

Since the end of 2014, there have been three APRs for the 1840-O quarter eagle in PCGS MS62. The most recent sale was for $10,500 as Heritage 2022 ANA: 4794; this coin was spotted at the left obverse and sold cheaply as a result. A second example realized $13,800 as Heritage 2022 FUN: 3898; this coin was flatly struck with central weakness noted on both sides. Before this, the most recent sale for a PCGS MS62 was all the way back in 2014.

This is a nice coin which is just about impossible to improve upon as all of the PCGS MS63 and finer 1840-O quarter eagles are off the market in tightly-held, private collections.

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