RARE AND POPULAR 1854 LARGE DATE DOUBLE EAGLE IN PCGS/CAC AU55

Varieties of 1854 Double Eagles are known with a Small Date and a Large Date. The latter is many times scarcer and it is one of the three rarest Type Ones from this mint along with the 1859 and the 1862. The 1854 Large Date is seen most often in the EF45 to AU53 grade range. It is rare in properly graded AU55 to AU58 and very rare in Uncirculated with fewer than 10 currently known to exist.

This piece shows the proper diagnostics for the variety which include a small raised die dot on the truncation and a spray of clashmarks from the reverse located behind the back of the curls on the obverse. The coin itself is lustrous and lightly worn with pleasing natural russet color. The surfaces show some marks which are not out of keeping for the grade including a light scrape above the 85 and some scattered ticks in the left obverse.

I haven’t offered a CAC approved AU 1854 Large Date double eagle since April 2013 and this variety is extremely popular amongst Liberty Head double eagle specialists.

Three examples have crossed the auction block since January 2014 and none have been CAC approved. Two PCGS pieces sold for $16,450 (in May 2015) and $15,275 (in January 2014) while an NGC coin realized $14,100 in September 2014. All three had problems of some sort and were not likely to have been approved by CAC.

This is an important coin for the advanced Type One double eagle specialist.

CAC has approved 10 in this grade with eight finer.