1885 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle. MS-63 (PCGS). Offered is a lovely and highly significant Choice Mint State survivor of a rarity from the later Liberty Head quarter eagle series. Vivid rose-orange color is enhanced by subtle cameo-like contrast between frosty devices and semi-reflective fields. The strike is sharp and the eye appeal is strong.<p>Throughout the 1880s, circulation strike quarter eagle mintages at the Philadelphia Mint remained low and no branch mint quarter eagles were produced at all from that year through the end of the Liberty Head series in 1907. There was apparently very little demand for small denomination gold coinage at the time. While half eagles, eagles and double eagles were produced in significant numbers during most years of the 1880s, primarily to meet the needs of the financial community and for use in the export trade, mintages for gold dollars, quarter eagles and three-dollar gold pieces were extremely limited. In the specific case of the 1885 quarter eagle, the Philadelphia Mint struck just 800 pieces for commercial use. Any regular issue U.S. Mint coin with fewer than 1,000 circulation strikes produced is a noteworthy rarity and always in demand among advanced collectors. This is a particularly attractive piece, one of only 30 to 45 Mint State coins that Q. David Bowers states are extant in his 2021 <em>Guide Book of Quarter Eagle Gold Coins</em> authored for Whitman. Equally as rare as a Proof of this date - of which 35 to 40 are known (per John W. Dannreuther, 2018) - it is sure to see spirited bidding at auction. PCGS# 7837. NGC ID: 25L9. PCGS Population: 6; 10 finer (MS-65 finest). From Legend Rare Coin Auctions sale of the Chester Roche Collection, July 2018 Regency Auction 27, lot 440.
