THE THIRD FINEST KNOWN 1840-O QUARTER EAGLE PCGS/CAC MS63, ex Norweb/Farouk

The 1840-O is the very first quarter eagle from the newly-opened New Orleans mint. It is fairly easy to locate in all circulated grades, but it is scarce in MS60 to MS62, and very rare in MS63 and above. There is a single Gem known (a PCGS/CAC MS65, from the Bass and Eliasberg collections and now in the New England collection), and I own a PCGS/CAC MS63+ which has never been offered for sale since I bought it around a decade ago.

This coin is fresh to the market and I recently bought it back from a long-term client who had held it for over twenty years. Formerly in an NGC MS63 holder, I crossed it to PCGS and then had it approved at CAC.

The luster is hard and satiny with slightly below-average strike showing some loss of detail at the eagle’s right wing running up the edge of the shield. The obverse and the reverse are both covered with natural medium orange-gold color. A small mint-made copper spot is barely noticeable at the back of Liberty’s bun.

No other MS63 1840-O quarter eagle from either service has ever sold at auction.

A coin of inestimable importance to multiple tiers of collectors.

CAC has approved two in MS63 (one is MS63+) plus a single coin finer (in MS65).

Ex Bowers and Merena 3/1996: 1984 ($6,840), Norweb collection, Sotheby’s 1954, Farouk.

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