RARE SLIDER 1857-O HALF EAGLE

The 1857-O is numismatically significant as the final No Motto half eagle struck at the New Orleans mint. It is of similar overall rarity to the 1855-O and 1856-O with just under 100 known. The 1857-O is typically seen in EF grades and it becomes rare in AU55 to AU58. In Uncirculated, this is an extremely rare date with four or five known, including one each in PCGS MS62 and PCGS MS63.

This fresh-to-the-market example is the first PCGS AU58 1857-O half eagle I have offered for sale in over a decade and the best one I’ve handled since the second finest known PCGS//CAC MS62 which I sold to a New England collector in 2014. It is a fully lustrous slider with flashes of prooflike reflectiveness seen at the peripheries. This piece has just the slightest wear limited to the high spots ad show nice light orange-gold color which deepens a bit at the edges. A few handling marks in the fields are not significant.

No PCGS AU58 1857-O half eagle has sold at auction since ANR 6/06: 2554 which sold for $7,188. Looking at other comparable New Orleans half eagles in this grade, the last 1855-O to sell at auction was an NGC coin which fetched $8,225 as Heritage 1/15: 7084 and an 1856-O graded by PCGS realized $9,775 all the back in 2006.

This date is essentially unavailable in Uncirculated so this attarcive piece represents an important opportunity for the advanced New Orleans half eagle to acquire a choice 1857-O.