Legendary 1854-O Double Eagle
Rarest New Orleans Mint $20 Finer of Only Two with CAC Approval
1854-O Liberty Head Double Eagle. Winter-1, the only known dies. EF-45 (PCGS). CAC.
Exceptional and very rare premium Choice EF quality for this fabled rarity among Type I Liberty Head double eagles. Warm olive undertones backlight dominant honey-orange color. The strike is well executed with all major design elements retaining bold to sharp detail in the absence of all but light high point wear. Wispy handling marks are inconsequential at the assigned grade level, especially for a key date New Orleans Mint $20. With undeniable originality and traces of satiny mint luster persisting, this is a truly remarkable coin in an 1854-O double eagle that is worthy of the strongest bids. The New Orleans Mint was the only Southern mint to produce the double eagle and only did so in modest quantities using gold provided from the vast California gold fields. While the vast quantities of gold that flowed east from California provided the bullion for double eagle coinage at both the Philadelphia and New Orleans mints, the majority of this precious metal found its way to the Northeast rather than the Deep South. This trend began in 1850, the year that regular issue double eagle production commenced, and continued throughout the early New Orleans Mint double eagle series that ended in 1861. The limited supply of bullion reaching the New Orleans Mint became particularly acute after 1853, the commencement of coinage operations at the San Francisco Mint in 1854 allowing for much of the newly mined gold to be struck into double eagles before even leaving California. Perhaps not surprisingly, double eagle production at the New Orleans Mint reached its lowest point since the beginning of the series in 1854 with just 3,250 coins struck. Since there was no contemporary numismatic interest in this issue (or any other mintmarked U.S. gold coins, for that matter), the distribution of the 1854-O is the same as that of the 1850 to 1853 New Orleans Mint deliveries, the coins seeing extensive domestic circulation in the South and west of the Mississippi River beginning in the year of issue. Some worn examples were likely included in international transactions of later years, but with so few coins produced to begin with the numbers were understandably limited. Q. David Bowers, in his 2004 Guide Book of Double Eagles published by Whitman, accounts for only 25 to 30 survivors in all grades and describes the 1854-O as "one of the rarest of all double eagles." Douglas A. Winter ( Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909, 2020 edition) takes a slightly more liberal view with an estimate of 30 to 40 coins extant, although he still ranks the 1854-O as the leading rarity among New Orleans Mint twenties. This one is a newcomer to the market as of 2021, and it is the highest graded of just two examples to have received coveted CAC approval. Highly recommended for inclusion in an advanced double eagle set or Southern gold cabinet.
PCGS# 8912. NGC ID: 268T.
PCGS Population: 2; 11 finer (AU-58 finest). There are also no Mint State examples listed at NGC. CAC Stickered Population: 2 in all grades: VF-30, and the present coin in EF-45.
From the Srotag Collection. Earlier from Heritage's sale of the Cameron Collection, April 2021 CSNS Signature Auction, lot 5158.