While not as well known as its counterparts, the 1839 Head of 1840 is the third rarest eagle from this mint, trailing only the 1875 and the 1863. There are around 45-55 known in all grades including three in Uncirculated. The finest is the amazing NGC MS64 that was sold for $143,000 in the May 1998 Pittman sale. I regard the 1839 Head of 1840 as one of the premier date rarities in the entire Liberty Head eagle series.

This piece has been cleaned at one time (as have nearly all examples) and it has a somewhat grainy texture as a result but it shows detail suggestive of a 45 to 50 coin. There is weakness of strike on the curl above the ear of Liberty while the reverse is sharp and well-defined. A number of small, shallow ticks can be seen in the fields.

The last EF40 example of this variety to sell at auction was Heritage 2/12: 4859 which brought $10,350. A total of four EF40′s have sold since September 2008.

While not the most cosmetically appealing coin that I have ever old, this is clearly one of the rarest Liberty Head eagles and certain allowances have to be made when considering an issue with this lack of availability.