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Sale 78
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Lot 1857
1851-O. PCGS graded AU-55. Lots of original mint luster rests with the protected areas of the devices. The 1851-O double eagle is fairly scarce in the context of general American numismatics, but sufficient numbers exist that examples appear on the market from time to time. Of the first three dates of New Orleans coins of this denomination, the 1851-O is slightly less scarce than 1850-O and 1852-O. Also, as the second year of the double eagle, and accordingly the second New Orleans issue, the variety is always in strong demand due to its historic associations (see below). Most specimens are in the Very Fine to Extremely Fine grade range, typically bagmarked, and, indeed, this has been about par for Type 1 double eagles even in the greatest collections. Choice About Uncirculated pieces like this are especially scarce. Pop 33; 20 finer, 10 in 58, 1 in 60, 1 in 61, 8 in 62. (PCGS # 8905) .
Historic New Orleans: On a voyage to New Orleans down the Mississippi in 1857, the steamboat pilot, Horace E. Bixby, inspired his passenger, Samuel L. Clemens (later calling himself "Mark Twain") to pursue a career as a steamboat pilot like Bixby himself; it was a richly rewarding occupation with wages set at $250 per month, equivalent to $155,000 a year today. Who can say that a pilot might even have been paid in locally circulating New Orleans minted $20 gold pieces including this one! It is a fair possibility.
A steamboat pilot needed a vast knowledge of the ever-changing river to be able to stop at any of the hundreds of ports and wood-lots along the river banks on the passage to America’s busiest port of the day, New Orleans. The 22-year-old future author meticulously began to study 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of the Mississippi for more than two years before he received his steamboat pilot license in 1859. While training, Clemens convinced his younger brother Henry to work with him. Henry was killed on June 21, 1858, when the steamboat he was working on, the Pennsylvania, exploded. Twain had foreseen this death in a detailed dream a month earlier, which inspired an interest in parapsychology. Twain was guilt-stricken over his brother's death and held himself responsible for the rest of his life. However, he continued to work on the river (no doubt getting paid in O-mintmarked gold coins!), and served as a river pilot until the Civil War broke out in 1861, when traffic along the Mississippi was curtailed.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 6,000.
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| Realized $12,338 |
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