The 1862 is the rarest regular issue Type One business strike Double Eagle made at this mint. It has gone from being overlooked to arguably one of the most popular 19th century US gold coins and it has multiple levels of demand as a Civil War rarity and a desirable Type One issue. In AU, it is available at a pace of around two or three coins per year (if that) and it is essentially unavailable above AU58.

This example has clearly been lightened in recent months but it is still cosmetic due to more than enough luster for the date and grade. As usual, the surfaces are “ticky” but none of these marks is out of keeping, save for a shallow scrape along the jawline of Liberty.

There have been no AU50 examples of the 1862 double eagle sold at auction since the end of 2003. A PCGS AU53 brought $10,925 in a Stack’s 1/11 sale but is worth considerably more today as evidenced by the fact that an AU58, graded by NGC, just broke the $30,000 barrier in the recent Heritage 2014 FUN auction.

The longer you wait to buy an 1862 double eagle, the more you are going to have to pay…this is “opportunity cost” at its most basic!