1852-O Liberty Head Double Eagle. MS-61 (PCGS). An outstanding example of an early New Orleans double eagle, the fields offer intense satiny luster with a faint prooflike complexion on the reverse. Pale sandy-gold shades are accented by hints of richer honey color across the high points and near the borders. Scattered hairlines are noted on the obverse but the eye appeal remains exceptional for this grade level. Just eight coins have been certified finer by PCGS.<p>Even though the New Orleans Mint had produced double eagles in quantity in both 1850 and 1851, the coiners were still working out many of the difficulties found in producing such a large gold coin with precision. Emphasis seemed to have been placed more on quantity over quality, leaving many examples with uneven or weak strikes. In the end, a total of 190,000 specimens came off the Mints presses, a decent quantity to be sure, helping to make this one of the more readily available of all New Orleans double eagles. As with most gold coins produced in the Antebellum South, the coins entered circulation where they would remain, seeing use primarily in the region. Numismatics in America was still in its very infancy in the early 1850s and there was essentially no interest in mintmarks at all, which when combined with the denominations high face value meant that precious few examples of the issue were intentionally saved at the time. The Civil War disrupted monetary circulation patterns drastically, causing many to be used for overseas commerce or otherwise disappeared from use. When double eagle holdings from overseas started to be repatriated back to these shores in the twentieth century, most surviving specimens bore the evidence of not only their extended storage in large sacks, but also the years of general commercial use in the mid to late 19th century. <p>As a result, it is estimated that about 400 to 600 examples of the date can be accounted for today, most of those in the VF and EF range, with only a very small number of coins at the AU level or above. This comparative availability at the middle circulated grade levels has made the 1852-O double eagle especially popular for type collectors seeking just a single example of a New Orleans-produced double eagle. The issues popularity has placed quite a bit of competitive pressure for the few examples known at the AU level and above. This situation is even more pronounced at the Mint State levels of preservation, where at best only about a dozen uncirculated examples of the issue may still be extant for the modern numismatist to appreciate.
