1850-O $20 MS(PCGS#8903)

December 2025 Showcase Auction - The James A. Stack, Sr. Collection Part I

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

20017

Grade

AU53

Price

14,400

Lot Description

A lovely About Uncirculated example of a historically significant Southern gold issue. Bathed in warm golden-honey color, both sides also exhibit subtle olive undertones. Ample remnants of softly frosted luster are most pronounced in the protected areas around the design elements. This is one of the more consistently well struck double eagles from the New Orleans Mint, although even so the typical example will have appreciable softness in and around the centers and/or at the peripheries. With sharp borders and only minor softness at stars 1 and 2 on the obverse, as well as at the high points of Liberty's portrait and the eagle, the present example ranks among the better produced that we have handled over the years. When allowance is made for light high point rub that helps to define the AU-53 grade, the superior detail that defines this 1850-O becomes even more obvious. Wispy hairlines are a bit more prevalent on the obverse, but there are no sizable marks - unusual for an early date double eagle that saw light commercial use.<p>The perennially popular 1850-O is the first double eagle from the Louisiana branch mint. A mintage of 141,000 pieces for this issue is considerably lower than the 1,170,261-coin mintage reported at the Philadelphia Mint in 1850. This began a trend that would continue throughout the early New Orleans Mint double eagle series of 1850 to 1861. 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 went to the Northeast rather than the Deep South.<p>The 1850-O is one of the more challenging early date New Orleans Mint double eagles to collect, rarer than the 1851-O and 1852-O issues, and most are well worn in grades such as VF or EF. As with the Philadelphia Mint's issue of 1850, the 1850-O saw extensive use in domestic circulation, primarily in regions west of the Mississippi River where gold coins were a preferred medium of exchange. Other examples were exported, primarily to London, where they were eventually melted. With its first year status resulting in particularly strong demand among mintmarked gold type collectors and New Orleans Mint enthusiasts, this impressive About Uncirculated 1850-O double eagle is sure to see spirited bidding at auction.<p>Writing in the 2025 edition of his standard reference <em>Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909</em>, Doug Winter identifies three die marriages for this issue, utilizing two obverse and two reverse dies. The Winter-3 attribution, offered here, represents the only use of this reverse die, with the O mintmark placed high over the letter N in TWENTY and solidly touching the eagle's tail feathers. While Winter does not report this attribute, the James A. Stack, Sr. specimen reveals fairly bold repunching to the O mintmark when it is examined under magnification. We suspect it is an early impression from these dies, before subsequent strikes and/or repolishing of the die removed all trace of the repunching.