1854 Liberty Head Eagle. MS-61 (PCGS).Both sides of this delightful 1854 Liberty Head eagle display a lovely blend of soft, billowy mint luster and warm golden-orange color. A few marks are noted, including a thin cut in the left obverse field. Neither these blemishes nor a hint of high point rub are inconsistent with the MS-61 grade from PCGS. Lustrous with bold definition to most design elements, this is a handsome MS-61 survivor of a conditionally challenged No Motto Liberty Head $10 issue.<p>Even at an early date the 1854 eagle was regarded as scarce. An example is provided by lot 1265 in the Dr. James R. Chilton Collection sold by Bangs, Merwin, & Company in March of 1865: "1854 Good and scarce. Dickeson, page 172." The Dickeson reference is to the <em>American Numismatic Manual</em>, the most impressive work on American rare coins produced up to that point. In the years to follow, 1854 eagles appeared at auction infrequently, as large denomination circulation strikes were not particularly popular with early numismatists. Among those that were offered, nearly all were in lower circulated grades, generally what we would classify as VF or EF by todays standards. Exceptions are few and far between, one being lot 126 in the J.C. Morgenthau & Company sale of June 1940, simply described as "1854 Uncirculated."<p>Fast forward to August 1980 when David W. Akers described lot 953 in Paramounts session of Auction 80, a coin listed as MS-63, with the comment, still appropriate today: "...the 1854 is actually extremely rare in this grade. Only 54,250 were minted, we doubt if more than six to eight Mint State examples exist."<p>This is certainly one of the very few Uncirculated survivors that we have ever had the privilege to present at auction, and it is a coin that is sure to see spirited bidding among astute collectors.PCGS# 8613. NGC ID: 263G.PCGS Population: 6; 15 finer (MS-64 finest).From the Rick Springfield Collection. Earlier from Heritages sale of the Harvey B. Jacobson, Jr. Collection of Liberty Eagles, February 2020 Long Beach Signature Auction, lot 3229.
