1854 Mint Set with Gold

The 1854 Copper & Silver Mint Set is not terribly difficult to complete, as the weight reduction (begun the previous year) resulted in fairly high mintages for most of the silver issues. The Silver Dollar is the only piece which will provide any challenge at all. What the silver coins offer in ease of completeability, the gold coins take away, in spades! Three of the rarest of all U.S. coins are found in this portion of the set. The 1854-S Half Eagle (struck in the mint's first year of operation) ranks in the top 10 rarest U.S. coins, with only three pieces known from a minuscule original mintage of only 268 pieces. One is in the Smithsonian, leaving only two on the open market. While it last appeared for sale almost 35 years ago, its value today is estimated conservatively between $2 and $3 million. A companion piece is the 1854-S Quarter Eagle. With a similar mintage, only about a dozen pieces are known. All are circulated with the finest known probably no better than AU-50. Nearly any piece will cost between a quarter and a half a million dollars. The third titanic rarity is the 1854-O Double Eagle. Most of the 30 to 40 known examples grade in the XF to AU range and a nice AU will set you back over half a million dollars. None are Mint State. As if these three weren't enough to discourage you from starting this set, there are numerous other very very tough coins, including the inaugural year 1854-D $3.00 gold piece and the 1854-D Quarter Eagle. This is easily one of the most difficult and expensive of all Mint Sets to complete. While Eliasberg was able to do it, it is quite unlikely ever to be done again.

Notes: This set has bonuses. Please see the Set Composition for a listing.