1875 $2.50 MS(PCGS#7822)

1875 $2.50 MS (PCGS#7822)

The August 2010 Boston Rarities Sale

Lot Description: 1875 Liberty Quarter Eagle. MS-61 (PCGS). Fully prooflike surfaces are dressed in equally attractive reddish-gold color. The strike is sharp-to-full throughout, and wispy abrasions are insignificant at the assigned grade level. A beautiful BU-quality survivor of one of the most eagerly sought issues in the entire Liberty Quarter Eagle series of 1840-1907.<br />     At just 400 business strikes produced, the 1875 is one of those "magic dates" in the U.S. Quarter Eagle series. It is genuinely rare in all grades and suffered a high rate of attrition in an era when business strike coinage was still shunned in favor of proofs by contemporary numismatists. Writing in the 2008 edition of the excellent reference <em>Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins: 1795-1933</em>, Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth estimate that only 50 coins have survived to the present day. With most survivors grading EF or AU, Mint State examples are also prime condition rarities. The coin we offer here is Condition Census #3 out of no more than seven Mint State pieces known to exist.<br />