1838 Liberty Head Eagle. AU-50 (PCGS). Secure Holder.，Offered is a high grade example of this scarce and underrated design type from the first year of the Liberty Head eagle series. Central definition is suitably sharp at the AU level of preservation, although the obverse stars are largely devoid of centrils, as typically seen. The evenly patinated medium gold surfaces are moderately abraded with a few significant marks that include an arcing scrape to the right of the eagles neck and a couple of reeding marks on Libertys cheek, taken into account by PCGS; otherwise this may have been graded AU-55 or AU-58.<p>In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson suspended both silver dollar and ten-dollar gold eagle production to prevent the loss of newly minted coins through exportation and/or melting. By that time such practices had become so profitable that there was little point in the Mint producing and distributing new coins. When coinage of gold eagles finally resumed in 1838, not only was a new design introduced, but both the weight and diameter of the eagle were reduced. Whereas the Capped Bust Right eagle of 1795 to 1804 was produced to a weight standard of 17.50 grams with an approximate diameter of 33 millimeters, the coins struck beginning in 1838 weighed 16.718 grams and measured 27 millimeters in diameter.<br /><p>The design of the new eagle is attributed to Christian Gobrecht. Its numismatic name, Liberty Head, is derived from the left facing portrait on the obverse. As originally designed, Gobrechts Liberty Head eagle features an obverse portrait with a broad, deeply curved truncation line and long strands of hair pulled across Libertys ear from the temple to the bun at the back of the head. The letters in the reverse legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA are large in size. For reasons that have become lost to history, this design was replaced in 1839 with one that features a slightly modified obverse portrait and smaller letters in the reverse legend. Examples of both types were produced in 1839.<p>As the first Liberty Head eagle, and one of just two of the Type of 1838, Large Letters design, the 1838 is eagerly sought by both advanced gold type collectors and series specialists. This is by far the rarer of the two issues of the Type of 1838 design, and of the 7,500 pieces struck <em>PCGS CoinFacts</em> accounts for just 80 to 100 survivors in all grades. Mint State coins are of the utmost rarity and, indeed, this issue largely passed into circulation with little attention from contemporary Americans. Most of the few survivors are well worn, the typical piece grading VF or, at best EF. A superior example at the AU grade level, this important coin combines absolute and condition rarity and is sure to see spirited bidding at auction.，PCGS# 8575. NGC ID: 262D.，，From the Murray Hill Collection. Acquired from Stacks Bowers Galleries. Earlier from our Baltimore Auction of June 2012, lot 4338.
