CHOICE AU 1805 QUARTER

B-4, R-4. The Rea Plate coin for the variety.

The Draped Bust Heraldic Eagle quarter type was made from 1804 through 1807. While easily located in lower grades, this type becomes scarce in properly graded AU55 and higher grades. As a date, the 1805 is harder to find in this grade than the 1806 and 1807. The B-4 variety is scarce in all grades and it becomes quite rare in anything approaching Uncirculated. This coin was used to illustrate the B-4 variety in the Rea book on Bust Quarters.

This lightly toned example has pale golden-grey color with a good deal of mint luster seen on the surfaces. The centers are, as is typical for this variety, somewhat weak but there is very little in the way of actual wear seen and the surfaces are clean with no significant circulation marks.

The last PCGS AU55 example of this date to sell at auction was Heritage 8/15: 4596 which realized $7,638. In August 2010, Heritage sold an extremely choice PCGS/CAC AU55 example of this die variety for a strong $13,800.

Uncirculated 1805 quarters are very hard to find and expensive, which makes nice AU’s such as this very desirable.