The 1851-O quarter eagle is common in grades up to an including AU55 but properly graded AU58s are scarce and this date is rare and undervalued in Uncirculated. The value of AU58s has been harmed in recent years by a preponderance of over-graded examples.

This is a wonderful, fresh coin with crisp details and deep, even natural green-gold color on the obverse and the reverse. There is still some dirt in the protected areas and this piece has clearly never been dipped or lightened. A small vertical scratch between stars two and three on the obverse is the only detracting feature and even this is hard to see without 5x magnification.

The last PCGS AU58 example with CAC approval to sell at auction was Heritage 12/10: 4313 which brought $2,760. Another PCGS/CAC AU58 brought $2,990 as Heritage 10/10: 4620.

As I have mentioned before, the market for coins like this has been hurt by the sad quality of the “typical” AU58. This is not a typical 1851-O quarter eagle in any manner…

CAC has approved 11 in this grade with four finer.