Along with the 1859, the 1862 is one of the two rarest Type One double eagles from the Philadelphia mint. Given its status as a Civil War date, the 1862 is more popular than the 1859 and it is extremely hard to locate in AU grades, especially with original color and surfaces.

This fresh-to-the-market example shows splendid deep, even green and orange-gold color which is suggestive of storage in a European bank vault but without the dark highlights seen on coins from these sources. The surfaces show scattered light scuffs consistent with the grade and there is ample remaining luster below the aforementioned toning. It is likely that this piece has never been dipped or “improved” and it is one of only a handful of remaining examples of this date which can lay this claim.

There have been five auction records for AU53 1862 double eagles since September 2008. The most recent is Heritage 3/15: 3258 which realized $18,500 and, while a nice coin overall, it was not CAC approved nor was it as choice as the present piece.

This is a date which is in constant demand by multiple groups of collectors and it is the nicest 1862 double eagle which I’ve offered for sale on my website in quite some time.

CAC has approved two in this grade with four finer. Only six in total have been approved for the date.