Lot 2175
1859 $2.50 Liberty. Old reverse. PCGS graded MS-63. Lovely light golden toning with mirror surfaces. Well struck. A high degree of cartwheel luster, semi-prooflike in areas, spins gracefully on the sleek, toned surfaces of this winning specimen. The strike is crisp in all places, without any of the often-found weakness at centers. Among the finest known. Pop 3; 3 finer in 64. (PCGS # 97788) .
Due to their size, not even the adoption of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST in 1866 was to affect quarter eagles, which looked in 1907 very much as in 1840. The reverse may have been by Robert Ball Hughes, according to Breen, Hughes being an assistant to Christian Gobrecht at the time. The Old Reverse design up to 1859, and seen in a few later Philadelphia coins, has larger arrowheads tightly packed together, as well as larger letters, details that become quite obvious when viewed along with a Type 2 Reverse of the succeeding era.
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,000.
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| Realized $4,485 |
