Lot 1668
Glittering 1831 Quarter Eagle. NGC graded MS-64. Nice, nice example of a reduced-size Capped Head quarter eagle. Great old-gold color, sharp strike in almost every detail (just the base of the eagle's left wing, where it joins the shield, is a tad light), and exceptionally clean, sparkling surfaces. The very definition of a choice MS64 coin! And, just think about it a second: the federal mint at Philadelphia knocked out just 4,520 of these during the entire year. That amounted to a paltry $11,300 face value, which evidently was sufficient for the commercial needs of the day. My, how things have changed in the good ole USA! And here's a specimen of this rarity, 168 long years later, that retains most of the look it had on the day it was coined.
Historical mementoes: The redoubtable Henry Clay gained election as a senator in this year, whereupon he became President Andrew Jackson's most vocal and hated opponent, seeking (unsuccessfully) the following year to unseat him from office. In Boston, publisher William Lloyd Garrison founded an abolitionist newspaper which he declared would remain in print until the South's slaves were all freed. Mormon leader Joseph Smith got as far west as Kirkland, Ohio, seeking a site for his religion to prosper. Our fledgling railroads got a new invention in late 1831--the cowcatcher--which promptly became standard equipment in warding off track invaders. Meantime, cotton was king all over the South, native Americans were starting to be pushed westward by white settlers and Washington politicians, and in now-conservative Massachusetts (where rebellion began) Dr Samuel Francis Smith wrote new lyrics to the British tune for God Save the King, calling his song America. The various states were embroiled in change, heading towards temporary separation yet an inevitable strength the likes of which the world hadn't seen since the Roman Empire.
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