In 1866, the design of the double eagle was changed toinclude the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. Word of this took a long enough time to reach San Francisco that an estimated 120,000 were made using the old No Motto design. Most of these were melted but enough were released that a few hundred are known today. The 1866-S No Motto is the second rarest San Francisco Liberty Head double eagle after the 1861-S Paquet. It is usually seen well worn (in VF and EF grades) and almost never with any degree of originality.

I have handled a number of EF 1866-S No Motto double eagles over the years and very few can compare with the present example. It is wholesome and original with very pleasing nautral medium russet-gold color that is accentuated by reddish flashes in the protected aareas. There is a good amount of luster present and the fields lack the typical deep marks so common to this issue. In fact, the only mark worthy or mention is a small hit just before star three on the obverse.

There have been no PCGS EF40 examples of this issue available at auction since a pair of pieces were sold in 2009. To the best of my knowledge, no PCGS EF40 or EF45 examples with CAC approval have been sold at auction. I believe that this is an issue that will never have more than 10% of the known examples approved by CAC due to the generally poor eye appeal that is seen on most 1866-S No Motto double eagles.

An extremely important coin for the advanced Type One double eagle collector.

CAC has approved two in this grade with just two finer.