I have seen fewer of this date than I have of any other of this type. -- David Akers..Pleasing light yellow gold with some faint pale green undertones. Some vestiges of luster remain on the surfaces, which show a variety of tiny marks from this coins use as a medium of exchange. Indications of its former prooflike character remain, with bits of reflectivity visible around design elements. Some light hairlines are present on both sides, two thin parallel scratches are noted from L of PLURIBUS under the beak tip to center, no particularly heavy individual contact marks. The dies are clashed, visible on both sides, with retrograde outlines of both central devices seen around their counterpart. The repunching is plain to the north of the final date digit, and the curvature of the partially effaced first attempt remains visible enough to say with certainty that the digit is a 6, not a 5 as long believed.Long associated with a mintage figure of 760 pieces, a total derived from the number of quarter eagles delivered in 1826, John Dannreuther makes the case that some of the quarter eagles delivered in 1827 were actually dated 1826. Based upon auction appearance evidence that suggests the 1826 is approximately twice as rare as 1827 (stated mintage: 2,800), he offers an estimated mintage range between the canonical figure of 760 pieces and a high of 1,750 pieces. If 1,000 of the pieces delivered in 1827 were actually dated 1826, that would translate to mintage figures of 1,760 coins dated 1826 and 1,800 coins dated 1827, hardly a big enough difference to fairly represent the relative rarity of the two dates. A ratio of 1,187 coins dated 1826 to 2,373 coins dated 1827 would better represent the relationship. Such a mintage would also leave the 1826 quarter eagle with the lowest mintage of the type by a large margin, consistent with the opinions of most experts on its rarity and the above-quoted observation of David Akers that "I have seen fewer of this date than I have of any other of this type."The United States portion of the Amon Carter Family collection was mostly formed by Amon Carter Sr., a major buyer in some of the most famous auctions of the 1940s and early 1950s. His friendship with fellow Fort Worth resident B. Max Mehl got him first choice of many of the fine collections that came across Mehls doorstep. His favorite local source handled three 1826 quarter eagles in the decade that Carter was most active, any of which could be this coin based upon the assigned grade and description. The image of the Dunham (1941) 1826 quarter eagle bears a strong resemblance to this one, while the Atwater (1946) and Golden Jubilee/Kern (1950) catalogs used the same stock image to represent two different specimens, the latter of which came from the Col. Green estate. Mehl described this issue as "excessively rare, one of the rarest American gold coins." Its rarity has been chronically underappreciated, and perhaps as few as 20 discrete specimens survive. None of those known are gem. Among the 17 instances PCGS has rendered an opinion on a specimen of this issue, the highest grade assigned is just MS-61.
