The 1862 is the second most available Civil War eagle after the 1861 but it is still a scarce coin with around 100 pieces known from the original mintage of 10,960. This date is usually seen in VF-EF grades and properly graded AU53 to AU55 examples are extremely scarce. There are two known in Uncirculated including an NGC MS64 which was recovered from the S.S. Republic.

This fresh-to-the-market example is among the nicer 1862 eagles I have handled. It shows nice warm yellow-gold color with a significant amount of natural mint luster remaining. The surfaces are much less abraded than usual for this typically baggy date. Most importantly, this coin appears to have never been dipped or processed as have most eagles of this era.

Remarkably, there have been no less than three AU55 1862 eagles sold at auction so far in 2014. A PCGS example brought $8,519 as Heritage 4/14: 8519 while two NGC coins each sold for $9,400. None of the three were approved by CAC.

This date has shown strong price appreciation in the last few years as it has been in demand by Civil War specialists and Liberty Head eagle collectors. I believe this strong level of demand should continue in the coming years.

CAC has approved three in this grade with two finer (both AU58).