Lot 2069
1842-D $2.50 Liberty. NGC graded AU-58. Repunched date. Lustrous light yellow gold. Excellent strike -- notably so -- including with far above average (but not necessarily needle sharp) definition on the eagle's leg to the left. A highly important variety. Few exist in Mint condition (as the following census make public).
On this D-mint issue, the date logotype sits high and more deeply impressed at the top of the date than at the bottom, indicating that the logotype punch was not driven in a true vertical alignment. The reverse D mintmark overlaps a feather, with part of the feather visible at the center of the letter and a tiny part extending from the left of the upright.
Why so few coins minted? In the present case only 4,643 coins from a single pair of dies, all of which have the repunched date as noted above. Perhaps the supplies of bullion dried up that year. More likely, orders for the half eagle outweighed, since gold depositors under a traditional free-coinage system as we had in the 1840s, could and often did ask for specific denominations when they brought their bullion to the Mint to be coined. Nearly all the 1842-D quarter eagles have disappeared, with the result that today one faces limited offerings. Pop 9; 5 finer, 4 in 61, 1 in 62 (PCGS # 7725) .
Estimated Value $12,000 - 13,000.
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| Realized $14,375 |
