Legendary 1854-S Quarter Eagle
Among the Finest Known
1854-S Liberty Head Quarter Eagle. AU-50 (NGC).
An unusually pretty specimen of this famous rarity, it is nicely colored in even pinkish-honey. A good deal of luster persists, satiny on both sides, a bit reflective in the fields. The lustrous surfaces and the deep colors create a warm and attractive overall appearance. Both sides are crisply struck and well defined. The surfaces show the usual array of hairlines for a gold coin in this grade range, no more and perhaps even a bit less, and we also note a touch of glossiness to the texture. On the other hand, no bad contact points were left behind by this coin's short, easy stay in Old West circulation. There appear to be about a dozen known examples of this issue, all struck on April 19, 1854, the same day as the 1854-S half eagles. There were actually fewer 1854-S quarter eagles struck than half eagles - just 246 pieces, amounting to only $615 face value. We accounted for 13 provenance chains and at least 10 discrete specimens in our September 2005 cataloging of the then newly discovered C.L. Lee specimen, but conflated the provenance of the 1974 Rio Rancho coin sold by Superior that was later offered by Heritage in February 2007, a PCGS EF-45 that brought $345,000, bringing that total to 11. One is impounded in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. PCGS has certified eight, only two of which are better than VF and three of which grade Fine or below. The only AU at that service is a 50 (formerly graded AU-53 by NGC), the unquestioned finest known, and offered in our March 2020 sale of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, Part VII. It realized $ 384,000. The present example is the single finest certified by NGC, and it is equally deserving of inclusion in a world class numismatic cabinet. There is no more important, famous, or elusive quarter eagle than the 1854-S. Its stature as the first San Francisco Mint quarter eagle makes it a classic. Its tiny census of survivors and seemingly infinitesimal original mintage, make it a rarity with few parallels in the entire American series in any metal. And its relationship to the famous 1854-S half eagles, coined that same day, seals this issue's status as one of the most historic and desirable American coins of any denomination. Struck without acclaim or numismatic interest, the entire mintage slipped into circulation to serve a dire need for circulating small change around the gold fields of California, anything more easily handled than pinches of gold dust and more convenient than foreign silver. Subsequent runs of San Francisco quarter eagles showed the demand, dwarfing the mintages of other branch mints and occasionally even the mother mint in Philadelphia. The next two emissions produced 71,160 in 1856 and 69,200 in 1857. Those circulated alongside of this coin, across saloon counters and into dusty mining camps, the fulcrum of the small transactions that built California into an international economic power.
PCGS# 7773. NGC ID: 25J3.
NGC Census: 1; 0 finer. The corresponding PCGS Population is also 1/0.