The 1860-O is comparable in rarity to the 1859-O and it is one of the rarest collectible Type One issues from this mint. Only 6,600 were made and around 100 are known with most in the EF range. This date suffers from strike and eye appeal problems and a sharply impressed, original coin is extremely hard to locate.

This fresh-to-the-market example is quite possibly the most wholesome EF 1860-O double eagle that I have ever seen. It has never been cleaned or dipped and it shows splendid deep, even green-gold color on both sides with dirt in the protected areas. The fields are very clean and lack the ubiquitous deep abrasions nearly always seen on this issue. Under magnification, there is a tiny old reverse scrape on the shield.

The last PCGS EF40 to sell at auction was Heritage 1/13: 5929, at $35,250, which was obviously recolored. Before this, Heritage 12/08: 2262 sold for $27,000. Only three EF40′s have appeared at auction since 2005.

It took me about one second to decide to buy this coin when it was offered to me at the 2013 ANA and I anticipate that it will sell very quickly, given the strong demand for choice New Orleans double eagles.

CAC has only approved three examples of the 1860-O in all grades: one each in EF40, EF45 and AU50.