THIRD FINEST KNOWN, AND ONE OF ONLY FOUR IN UNCIRCULATED

The 1857-O is a numismatically significant issue as it is the final No Motto half eagle made at this facility. Louisiana seceded from the Union in 1861, and the mint was shut down soon afterwards. It was re-opened in 1879, but the first With Motto Liberty head issues from New Orleans didn’t come until 1892.

A small mintage of 13,000 combined with extensive meltings means that today slightly more than 100 examples of the 1857-O half eagle are known. Nice circulated examples are scarce, while properly graded AU55 to AU58 coins are quite rare. In Uncirculated, the 1857-O is extremely rare with exactly four known. The highest graded is a PCGS MS63, while the single best—in my opinion—is a choice PCGS/CAC MS62 that I sold privately to the New England Collection. In April 2022, I paid $31,200 for an exquisite PCGS/CAC AU58+, which is now in the 400 Esplanade Collection.

This medium yellow-gold example is nice enough that I sent it in to PCGS at the recent 2026 FUN show via reconsideration in an attempt to upgrade it to an MS61+. I’m not sure that I even know the difference between an MS61 and an MS61+, but I do know that this coin has blazing luster, sharp overall details, and oodles of legitimate eye appeal.

The only Uncirculated 1857-O half eagle to ever sell at auction was the aforementioned PCGS MS63 which traded no less than five different times between 2003 and 2011, at a range of prices from $40,250 in its first ever appearance (the 2003 FUN sale), to $50,500 in February, 2008. And, as I mentioned above, I paid $31,200 for a Gemmy PCGS/CAC AU58+ in April 2022.

To put the importance of this PCGS MS61 in perspective, there are but four Uncirculated 1857-O half eagles known, and the two finer than this are not for sale any time soon, while the fourth coin is an NGC 61 unseen since 2001.

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