1853-O $20 MS(PCGS#8910)

February 2025 Showcase Auction - U.S. Coins

Commissaire-priseur

Stack's Bowers

Numéro du lot

2164

Grade

XF40

Prix

9 900

Description du lot

An overall smooth-looking, undeniably original example bathed in handsome deep honey-gold and olive patina. Boldly defined with uncommonly strong eye appeal for a lightly circulated early date mintmarked double eagle. Double eagle production at the New Orleans Mint reached its lowest point since the beginning of the series in 1853 with just 71,000 pieces produced. The distribution of the 1853-O is the same as that of the 1850 to 1852 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. With only 150 to 250 coins believed extant in all grades, Q. David Bowers (2004) describes the 1853-O as " the gatekeeper to what becomes a series of hard-to-find New Orleans double eagles." This is one of the nicest examples for the grade that we can ever recall handling, and it comes highly recommended for inclusion in an advanced double set or Southern gold cabinet.