LOVELY CHOICE AU 1861-O DOUBLE EAGLE

Variety One; a likely Federal striking.

The 1861-O is an historically significant issue as it was struck by no less than three authorities: the United States, the State of Louisiana and the Confederacy. It is also the final Type One double eagle from this mint and there are an estimated 150-175 known from the original mintage of 17,741. There are as many as three dozen known in AU grades but nearly all are washed-out, low-end coins and the present example is amongst the best AU's I have seen.

I bought this coin in an AU55 holder (see pedigree below) and thought it was a slam-dunk to grade AU56. It has nearly no wear and plenty of natural frosty mint luster blow natural yellow-gold color. A small diagonal mark on the lower portion of Liberty;s neck is likely what caused PCGS to not grade this 58 but I have seen worse in 58 holders from both services.

An inferior PCGS AU55 brought $70,500 as Heritage 4/14: 5806 while an NGC AU55 with a deep cut on Liberty's face realized $76,375 as Heritage 2014 ANA: 5704. The last PCGS AU58 1861-O double eagle to sell at auction brought $86,250 as Heritage 3/08: 1649.

This issue has stronger multiple levels of demand than any other New Orleans double eagle due to its Civil War association and I can't imagine a significantly finer piece becoming available any time soon.

Ex Heritage 1/17: 6001 ($67,653 as PCGS AU55; earlier sold as Heritage 4/08: 2494 where it realized $63,250.