1861-O $20 MS(PCGS#8934)
1861-O $20 MS (PCGS#8934)
Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins
- 拍卖行
- Stack's Bowers
- 批号
- 3373
- 等级
- XF40
- 价格
- 158,524
- 详细说明
- This is a desirable and visually pleasing example of one of the most eagerly sought Type I Liberty Head double eagles. Warm honey-gold color blankets both sides, accented by brighter wheat-gold undertones. Strong light brings out traces of a semi-prooflike finish that is most intense in the protected areas around the devices. Overall boldly defined and free of singularly mentionable handling marks, although wispy hairlines and a touch of glossiness to the texture are noted for accuracy. With above average quality and eye appeal for this exceptionally challenging issue, we anticipate that this coin will have no difficulty finding its way into an advanced collection of double eagles or Southern gold coinage.<p>The desirability of the 1861-O double eagle is well established and stems from two important characteristics of this issue. First, the 1861-O is a scarce issue in all grades with no more than 175 coins believed extant from a mintage of 17,741 pieces. Based on this estimate Doug Winter (<em>Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909</em>, 2020 edition) ranks the 1861-O seventh in rarity among the 13 New Orleans Mint issues in the Liberty Head double eagle series, ahead of the 1850-O, 1851-O, 1852-O, 1853-O, 1857-O and 1858-O.<p>Second, the mintage for the 1861-O comprises coins that were struck under three different governments - a unique occurrence in the Liberty Head double eagle series and a circumstance that has affected few other issues throughout U.S. coinage history. The mintage for the 1861-O can be divided as follows:<p>-January 1-26, 1861: 5,000 coins struck under the authority of the United States of America<p>-January 26-March 31, 1861: 9,750 coins struck under the authority of the State of Louisiana after it seceded from the Union and took over control of the New Orleans Mint<p>-April 1-30, 1861: 2,991 coins struck under the authority of the Confederate States of America after Louisiana joined the Southern Confederacy<p>Production of the 1861-O, therefore, closely followed the shifting political landscape of the nation during the months leading up to the outbreak of armed hostilities that started the Civil War. The close association of this issue with the Confederate States of America, in particular, confirms its desirability among specialized collectors, for the 1861-O double eagle is one of the few regular issue coins produced by that short lived government.<p>All 1861-O double eagles were struck using a single pair of dies, however, and even the pieces produced by the Southern Confederacy bear the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA as part of the reverse design. The staff in the New Orleans Mint simply had no other way of creating or otherwise obtaining new double eagle dies after the facility left Union control, and it was forced to use what tools were on hand to strike coins before the supply of bullion became exhausted.<p>How, then, do numismatists differentiate between those coins struck by the Union, the State of the Louisiana, and the Confederate States of America? The process is imprecise and somewhat conjectural, but Doug Winter has identified a late die state of this variety (Die State III) with a bold date and an obverse die crack (as made) from the rim outside star 2 to Liberty's chin. He believes that those late die state examples were struck by the Confederate State of America, and we see no reason to doubt that attribution.<p>The coin we offer here, however, is a middle die state example (Die State II) with the base of the digit 8 in the date strengthened by Mint personnel and no die crack on the obverse. This coin may be one of the 9,750 1861-O double eagles struck by the State of Louisiana between January 26 and March 31 of that year. Assigning this coin to the State of Louisiana seems particularly appropriate since there is also an early die state (Die State I) known to exist for this issue on which the digits in the date are weakly impressed. Die State I examples probably represent all of the coins struck under the authority of the United States of America, and perhaps also some struck later by the State of Louisiana.