POPULAR 1862-S DOUBLE EAGLE IN CHOICE AU

Until the discovery of a group of higher grade pieces in the S.S. Brother Jonathan and S.S. Republic shipwrecks, the 1862-S was virtually non-existent in Uncirculated and quite rare in properly graded AU58. Today, Choice AU coins are available but only a small percentage of these have dark, dirty surfaces with natural color.

The present example is clearly not from a shipwreck and its dirty two tone appearance with orange-gold fields contrasted by deeper highlights suggests a European origin. There is little actual wear seen but there is enough bag friction on the relief details to easily call this nice coin a solid AU58. Some light scuffs can be seen on both sides with the most noticeable resting in front of star one on the obverse.

Four PCGS AU58 1862-S double eagles were auctioned in 2015 with prices ranging from a low of $5,875 to a high of $7,638. None of these four coins were approved by CAC. An NGC/CAC AU58 sold for $7,638 as Heritage 1/15: 7454.

If you can find a PCGS/CAC MS61 example of this popular Civil War date, it is likely to run in the $20,000 range, making this nice PCGS/CAC AU58 an especially good value for the savvy specialist.

CAC has approved 22 in this grade with seven finer.