1857-O Liberty Head Quarter Eagle. AU-58 (NGC).This is an uncommonly well produced coin in a New Orleans Mint quarter eagle, the obverse especially sharp with crisp detail from the rim to the center. The reverse comes up short only over isolated high points of the eagle. Satiny bright gold surfaces with a few blushes of pale rose tinting evident here and there as the coin rotates under a light. The historically significant 1857-O is the final quarter eagle produced in the New Orleans Mint. It is one of the more readily obtainable issues in this Southern gold series, although survivors from a limited mintage of 34,000 pieces are scarce in an absolute sense. The present example is finer than the typical VF or EF offered in todays market.
