The 1846-C is one of the three or four scarcest quarter eagles from the Charlotte mint and it has the second lowest mintage figure with just 4,808 struck. It is seldom seen in collector grades and, when available, it tends to come with very poor eye appeal.

This example shows a typical strike for the date with some flatness at the centers but there is clearly enough detail to merit the assigned grade. The color is an appealing medium green-gold and the surfaces are clean for the issue with just a few marks in the left obverse field near Liberty’s chin.

The last problem-free slabbed EF40 to sell at auction was Heritage 4/06: 1613 which realized $2,530. Only two have sold in this grade since the Summer of 1999. Interestingly, only three 1846-C quarter eagles in all grades have been approved by CAC, given this date one of the lowest approval rates in the entire Liberty Head quarter eagle series.

For most collectors of Charlotte quarter eagles, this date is a big whole in their set and a coin like this–in a PCGS holder, with CAC approval and with good eye appeal–should check all the boxes!

CAC has approved one in this grade with two finer (AU50 and AU58).