The discovery specimen of the rarest quarter eagle.A classic and highly desired rarity in the early quarter eagle series. Thoroughly lustrous for a coin of this grade level, with plentiful reflectivity remaining in protected areas. Evenly worn and choice, showing no major marks but for a tiny nick on the reverse rim above the second S of STATES, connecting this with the 1912 George H. Earle, Jr. Sale, which plates only the reverse. Late die state with no visible reverse cracks, the leaves below ICA of AMERICA now sparse and lacking central detail from lapping. This is the last use of this die, following marriages to the obverse of two different 1804 dime varieties (JR-4, followed by JR-1) and an entracte during which some slightly earlier state 13 Star quarter eagles were struck.The 1804 13 Star quarter eagle was first identified as a distinct variety from this precise coin, cataloged by Henry Chapman in the Earle sale of 1912. Chapman said little about the coin, though he did feature it on his photographic plates and deem it both Fine and Rare. Thomas Elder cataloged an 1804 quarter eagle as 13 Stars in the superb 1908 J.B. Wilson sale, but he seems to have counted the stars on the obverse: the reverse of the coin in his plate has 14 stars. Variety collecting was in its infancy and gold coins did not have a following as fervent as large cents, colonials, and other more traditional American collecting areas. It took decades for early gold coins to get traction beyond date collecting or, more typically, type collecting. Even the classic 1957 Standard Catalogue of United States Coins did not list the 1804 13 Star, and it was not listed in the Guide Book until the 1960s. Once the variety became notable, even popular, collectors recognized its rarity. Eliasberg never owned one, nor did Garrett, David S. Wilson, Ten Eyck, Flanagan, J.F. Bell, Farouk, Miles, Lilly, Robison, or dozens more.Our friend Ed Price, the noted student of early dimes and quarter eagles, corresponded with David Akers on the subject of the 1804 13 Star quarter eagle, and his research was reproduced in the cataloging of the Pittman specimen (now a PCGS AU-50 that realized $94,000 when it was last sold over a decade ago). Price noted that he had identified 28 quarter eagle collections that included more than half (8 out of 15) of the known early quarter eagle die marriages; only six included an 1804 13 Star! David Akers added, the 13 Star Reverse variety of 1804 is extremely rare; in fact, I consider this to be the rarest quarter eagle, more rare than the legendary 1841 and 1854-S. Akers surveyed 226 catalogs, spanning the 20th century and much of the 19th, and found only two offerings of this variety. The Bass-Dannreuther book posits a total population, in all grades, of just 12 to 14 pieces. None of those are in the National Numismatic Collection, built from the Mint Cabinet, the Lilly bequest, and private donations; the American Numismatic Society also lacks this variety, and the only one Harry Bass ever acquired is now on display at the American Numismatic Association. While this piece is undocumented between the 1912 Earle sale and its 1979 auction appearance, we suspect it is the coin from the Waldo C. Newcomer Collection, broken up and sold by private treaty by B. Max Mehl in the early 1930s.Considered the second finest example known of this legendary rarity in the quarter eagle series, this coin was graded AU-55 (NGC) when it was acquired for $322,000 in 2008. We have never found a reference to an 1804 13 Star quarter eagle that would grade Mint State in the modern era, nor have we ever heard a rumor of one. The only example considered finer, the Judge Gaskill - Auction 90 specimen, is now graded AU-58 (PCGS). The last time the Gaskill coin sold, in July 2009, it brought the exact same sum of $322,000. Given this pieces superior provenance and excellent aesthetic appeal, there might not be so much separation between finest known and second finest known as some would imagine.
