Measures have been taken recently, and are now in progress, for introducing improvements in the processes and machinery of the Mint by which it is believed that the efficiency of the establishment may be much increased. Heretofore the milling and coining have been done exclusively by human labor. New machines are nearly completed by which these operations will be executed with steam power. -- The National Calendar, and Annals of the United States for MDCCCXXXVI, Volume 14, printed by Peter Force, 1836.Glittering and satiny, showing ideal yellow gold surfaces draped in luster and surrounded by attractive tones of deeper gold at the rims. The bright, fresh fields are barely affected by scattered contact marks, none worthy of individual attention, the whole of them overwhelmed by the superb aesthetic appeal. The strike is better than usual, with some detail in the ear curl and a firm border at the left side of the shield. Unimpeachably beautiful, its ranking among the very finest specimens of the date is secure.The Philadelphia Mint was amidst an era of great technological advances in 1836, led by chief coiner Franklin Peale, a gifted mechanic who was the son of the famed painter Charles Willson Peale. Following an extended tour of European minting facilities, Peale returned to Philadelphia to help establish a steam-powered coining facility, using the sort of equipment that had already been commonplace in Europe for decades. Based upon the presses and power plants Peale saw, but using his own clever designs, the Mint began producing coins by steam power in March 1836. By the end of the year, the largest and most difficult to strike denominations, silver half dollars and dollars, were being coined through steam power. As the 1836-dated pattern gold dollars were among the first to be produced by steam power, the similarly small quarter eagles may have followed soon thereafter, or they may have waited until the spring of 1837. A letter referencing the date of the first steam coinage of quarter eagles may exist in the Mint Archives, awaiting the arrival of a curious and patient researcher.Described as "brilliant Uncirculated and a gem" in our 1978 Bareford sale, Harry Bass recognized the rarity of this coin in such fine condition. It was the best one he ever encountered, was the single finest ever seen by PCGS when offered in our 1999 Bass II sale (as PCGS MS-66), and remains the single finest graded by them today. Within the Classic Head series, 1834-1839, PCGS has graded just three coins as MS-66, one as MS-66+, and one as MS-67. This is the only 1836 quarter eagle of any variety graded MS-66 or finer.
