VERY RARE MS61 PCGS/CAC 1862-S QUARTER EAGLE

The 1862-S is the second rarest quarter eagle from the San Francisco mint, trailing only the extremely rare 1854-S. There were only 8,000 struck and well under 100 are known with most in the EF40 to AU50 range. I am aware of four or five in Uncirculated with the finest, by a significant margin, being the PCGS MS63+ which I purchased for $43,700 as Goldberg 2/12: 1217.

This fresh-to-the-market example has never before been offered for sale. It is bright and frosty with excellent detail and a vibrancy not often seen on San Francisco gold coinage from this time period. There are some scattered ticks in the obverse fields surrounding the portrait which limit the grade but this piece is absolutely “new” with no wear seen on the high spots.

An NGC MS61 without CAC approval sold for $17,625 as Heritage 1/14: 6458 and, remarkably, in the same sale the Bass PCGS MS62 realized $23,500. It also lacked CAC approval and displayed somewhat funky coloration.

I have only owned one Uncirculated 1862-S quarter eagle since I bought the finest known MS63+ (an NGC 60) cited above in early 2012 and it was the object of considerable collector interest. This is an extremely important coin for the advanced San Francisco specialist or the connoisseur of Condition Census Civil War gold.

CAC has approved just two in Uncirculated: this piece and an MS63+.