The 1853-O has been lumped in with the common 1851-O and 1852-O double eagles and this isn’t accurate as the 1853-O is considerably scarcer, especially in higher grades. In fact, the 1853-O is rare in properly graded AU55, very rare in AU58 and exceedingly rare in Uncirculated with only a small handful currently known.

This nice slider is the highest graded 1853-O double eagle that I have offered in a number of years. Unlike most AU examples of this date, this coin has not been processed and stripped of its natural color and character. The surfaces are moderately abraded and show significant amounts of prooflike reflectiveness. Only a slight amount of wear can be seen and it is limited to the high spots. A small mint-made toning spot is observed on the obverse above star seven and a small natural grease stain in located immediately after this same star.

No PCGS AU58 1853-O double eagle has sold at auction since Bowers and Merena 2010 ANA: 1817 (which went cheaply at $18,400) and only one other has sold since the summer of 2005. A nice PCGS AU55 with CAC approval realized $22,325 as Lot 10052 in Stacks Bowers 11/14 sale and a very marginal quality NGC MS61 was bid up to $64,625 as Heritage 4/14: 5792.

A comparable quality 1851-O or 1852-O would cost around $15,000-17,500 and these are fairly readily available. Doesn’t it make sense to spend a few thousand dollars more to obtain a true condition rarity and a coin with a population of just 13 in AU58 with but one finer?

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