General History -- Early Issues

The original Mint Act of April 2, 1792 established the basic denominations for our nation's circulating coinage. Included were two pieces in copper; the cent and half cent, five pieces in silver; the half disme and disme, ("disme" being a early variant of the word "dime") the quarter, half and full dollar; and three pieces in gold; the quarter, half and full eagle ($2.50, $5.00, $10.00). Fineness for the gold coins was set at 916/1000, or 22 carat.

While half eagles and eagles were first struck in 1795, coinage of the quarter eagle would not begin until the following year. The first design featured Robert Scot's design of a classic figure of Liberty facing right, with no stars on the obverse. Fewer than 1,000 pieces of this type were struck, and it is unquestionably one of the rarest U.S. type coins. The reverse depicted a heraldic (large) eagle, the first appearance of a style which would dominate America's silver and gold coins through 1807. Later in 1796, thirteen stars were added to the obverse and this basic design continued for the next eleven years.

In 1808, a Capped Bust design facing left by the German immigrant John Reich replaced Scot's original design. Well balanced and attractive, it lasted only one year. After a miniscule mintage of only 2,710 pieces, it is speculated that the die cracked, and no further pieces were struck. Like the 1796 "No Stars" design, the 1808 quarter eagle ranks at the top of the list of the rarest U.S. coins; with only around 35 or 40 pieces known today. It would be the last quarter eagle struck until 1821.

Why So Rare?

To understand the thirteen-year hiatus in production as well as the tiny mintages (generally under 5,000 pieces per year) of quarter eagles during the early pre-1834 period, some understanding of circulating money and banking norms of the times is necessary.

One must first appreciate the purchasing power of the dollar two hundred years ago. The first director of the mint received a salary of $1,500 per year, and the chief engraver earned $1,200. Other employees were hired for as low as $500 per year, so it is safe to say that the purchasing power of the dollar has fallen to only 2% of its levels of two hundred years ago. That would place the value of a quarter eagle at roughly $125 in today's money. Needless to say, this is not exactly an amount frequently needed in day-to-day transactions. From the available archival data, quarter eagles during this period were ordered on a whim by a few local Philadelphia banks -- namely the Bank of Pennsylvania and the Bank of the United States. As most of the survivors are in relatively high grade (VF to Unc.) it appears they spent most of their time in the vaults.

During the mint's first four decades (1793-1833) the vast majority of the mint's output consisted of cents, half dollars and half eagles, the other denominations enjoying a marginal status at best, with very few requested, and very few evidently needed. With a great deal of foreign money circulating, the need of the general public for federal money was not large. Further, banks normally specified the denomination into which they wanted their deposits of foreign coins or native bullion coined, and over 90% of the time, they wanted their gold deposits coined into half eagles. Half dollars were the coin of choice for silver bullion, and the Capped Bust half dollars of the 1807-1838 design are among the most common of all early U.S. coins, with thousands of high grade (VF-AU) examples available at very modest prices today.

From 1821 to 1827, coinage resumed with a copy of Robert Scot's half eagle design of 1813. In 1829, a modified design by William Kneass was introduced, and the diameter of the coin was slightly reduced, although the weight remained the same. Mintages remained extremely low (typically in the 2,000 to 4,000 coin per year range) and surviving examples generally number fewer than fifty for each date.

During the 1820s and 1830s, quantities of Latin American silver bullion entering the market served to lower the price of silver relative to gold (effectively raising the price of gold reckoned in Mexican dollars) to a point where U.S. gold coins were worth more than their face value on world markets. This lead to massive exportation and melting overseas. Archival evidence mentions one mass melting in Paris (1831) in which some 40,000 U.S. half eagles met their fate. Quick action was needed to stem the flow of U.S. gold coins out of the country, and the Act of June 28, 1834 effectively halted the exodus by reducing the weight of quarter and half eagles by approximately 4.5% and lowering the fineness from .916 to .899. Old-standard gold coins could be brought to the mint for recoinage (now at a profit of over 6%) and the few that escaped the trip to European smelters now perished in the furnaces of the U.S. mint. In view of this, the low survival rate of 1% to 2% is easily understood.

A New Beginning

A new design by Kneass, modeled after John Reich's Classic Head design of 1808 accompanied the massive recoinage which took place from 1834 through 1839. In the first year alone, over 100,000 quarter eagles were struck - nearly double the number that had been struck in the preceding forty years, and in 1836, an astounding 548,000 pieces left the mint. These "Classic Head" quarter eagles immediately entered circulation, so while relatively common in VF or XF grades, they remain rather elusive in mint state. In 1838 and 1839, the first issues from the newly established branch mints in Charlotte, NC, Dahlonega, GA and New Orleans appeared.

The Liberty Quarter Eagle

After roughly twenty years of short-lived designs and sporadic mintages, the quarter eagle reached maturity in 1840 with the introduction of a new design by Christian Gobrecht. The obverse featured a figure of Liberty with braided hair and a coronet, and was modeled after Benjamin West's "Venus" in Omnia Vincit Amor, 1839. The reverse portrayed an eagle with spread wings, a shield over its breast, clutching an olive branch and arrows in its right and left claws respectively. It was little changed from previous designs.

While mintages were considerably above pre-1834 levels, they always ran well below the figures for the larger half eagles and eagles. With the exception of the high-mintage Philadelphia issues of 1850-1857 and 1861, nineteenth century mintage quantities seldom exceeded 100,000 pieces per annum. Particularly scarce are the branch-mint issues of the late 1850s (immediately preceding the Civil War) and the Philadelphia issues of 1863-77, during which time specie payments were suspended and little bullion reached the mint. After 1878, availability generally improves, and despite continued low mintages throughout the 1880s and early 1890s, hoarding in Europe has preserved a sufficient quantity of pieces to keep the prices reasonable. High-grade pieces (MS-65 and higher) are not generally widely available until after 1892.

Collecting/Investing

The Liberty quarter eagle series is one of the most difficult of all sets to complete due to several extraordinarily difficult dates. At the top of the list is the 1841 Philadelphia coin, dubbed the "Little Princess", struck only in Proof and unknown outside the Mint's Cabinet Collection until 1909. Also worthy of note is the 1854-S, the first issue from the San Francisco mint with an incredibly low mintage of only 246 pieces. About a dozen have survived each the object of intense collector interest and competition when they appear on the market. Other showstoppers include the proof-only issue of 1863 (mintage: 30) the 1855-D and 1856-D, 1875-P and an interesting variety of the 1848 with the letters "CAL" above the eagle on the reverse. All have original mintages of around 1,000 or lower, and all would require a hefty investment.

A fair number of Liberty quarter eagles are virtually unknown in mint state, particularly the branch mint issues of the mid-1850s and those struck during, and immediately following the Civil War. Suffice it to say that to assemble a complete date and mintmark set would require many years and many more dollars. Type collectors also have their work cut out for them, as both the 1796 "No Stars" and the 1808 are one-year type coins with fewer than forty examples known of each, in any grade. It is no exaggeration to say that the quarter eagle series is perhaps the most difficult to assemble by type as any other U.S. series - gold or otherwise.

Nineteenth century collectors were slow to appreciate the rarity and collectability of U.S. gold coins. Their high face value no doubt discouraged many, as assembling sets of half eagles or eagles at a small premium over face value tied up a great deal of money.

This remained the case during the first half of the twentieth century as well. The 1947 Redbook listed the 1796 "No Stars" at $150 in Fine condition, and the 1808 at only $100. By way of comparison, early Proof Seated dollars of the 1840s averaged about $100-$125. Today, the early Seated dollars average between $3,000 and $4,000 dollars, but the 1796 $2.50 has soared to over $10,000!

Common date Liberty quarter eagles show the following price history over the past fifty years:

1947:  Very Fine	$9.00	Uncirculated:	$12.50
1967:  Very Fine	$50.00	Uncirculated:	$65.00
1997:  Very Fine	$130.00	Uncirculated (MS-60):	$275.00