Offered is an incredible specimen of this prized San Francisco Mint issue. Only 41,000 quarters were struck in San Francisco in 1865, and most entered circulation with few being saved or otherwise surviving. Today reasonable estimates for survivors of this issue are in the low 100s. Of those seen, this is the only MS-67 certified, and likely the very finest known. The strike is bold and each star shows at least partial radial lines. The eagle is full and complete right down to each knobby talon. The surfaces and luster remain fresh with a hint of a golden iridescence over bright silver. A couple of minute specks are noted for reference, one in the field left of Libertys right wrist and another just above star 12 near the denticles. As always seen for the issue, the digit 1 in the date is repunched low.Change was coming to the design of many of the U.S. Mints larger coins based on the Act of March 3, 1865, which authorized, among other things, the addition of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST to coins of suitable size. This came about after Reverend M.R. Watkinson wrote to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase on November 13, 1861, requesting the addition of a religious motto to our coinage. Experiments were put forth with the motto as GOD AND OUR COUNTRY, GOD IS OUR SHIELD and GOD OUR TRUST before finally settling on IN GOD WE TRUST, which first appeared on the new two-cent piece launched in 1864. By 1866 all coins large enough to support this motto displayed it, save for a few leftover die exceptions.
