1839-D $2.50 MS(PCGS#7700)

1839-D $2.50 MS (PCGS#7700)

The January 2013 Americana Sale

Losbeschreibung: 1839-D Classic Quarter Eagle. MS-64 (PCGS). CAC. A lustrous and sharply struck deep honey-gold specimen with a soft orange afterglow on the obverse and a distinctive olive sheen to the reverse. The strike is bold throughout save for on the very highest point of Liberty's curls and at the eagle's dexter shoulder where it meets the shield. Boldly repunched 9 in date -- for decades this variety was called "9/8," but today's conventional wisdom calls it a repunched 9. From the first year of coinage in the denomination at the Dahlonega Mint, the final year of quarter eagle coinage of the design type, and the second of just two years with an obverse mintmark position. In 1840, Christian Gobrecht's Liberty Head design replaced William Kneass' short-lived design type of 1834-1839, and the mintmark position was moved to the reverse die. From a modest mintage of 13,674 pieces, of which precious few pieces have survived in Mint State grades; a combined total of 26 Mint State pieces have been certified by PCGS and NGC, with MS-64 the finest seen by either service. Of those 26 <em>grading events</em>, it is entirely probable that the figure represents a resubmission or two in the eternal search for an additional grading point and additional added value. Undeniably choice at every turn.