By Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

On May 10, Heritage Auctions will offer the finest known 1858 Eagle, U.S. $10 gold coin. Though the 1858 Eagle is probably an extremely rare date, it is hardly discussed by anyone.

The lack of attention is partly due to discrimination against Philadelphia Mint Liberty Head gold coins. Only the far rarer 1875 Eagle gets much media attention among Philadelphia dates in the Liberty Head Eagle series, 1838-1907. Even the 1875 is not one of the Great Rarities that coin enthusiasts often remember and talk about. Certainly, many more people talk about 1876-CC Twenty Cent pieces and 1927-D $20 gold coins.

Many collectors focus upon Carson City Mint coins of one or more denominations. The offering of a collection of Carson City Mint Eagles at auction typically becomes a major media event, and is widely discussed among collectors and dealers nationwide. There have been far more discussions of the rarity of various Carson City Eagles than of the 1858 Philadelphia Eagle.

When ANR auctioned the ‘Tennessee Collection’ of Carson City Eagles in 2004, it was the focal point of a live auction in New York City. I covered this event for Numismatic News. Likewise, over the last year, the sales of two other collections of Carson City Eagles have received a lot of attention.

San Francisco Mint Eagles from the 1850s and 1860s also get much more attention than 1858 Philadelphia Mint Eagles. One reason is the historical allure of the culture spawned by the California Gold Rush, and another reason is the excitement surrounding the significant number of ‘S’ Mint Eagles that have been found in shipwrecks excavated over the past quarter-century. It may also be true that, since so much has been written about the ‘Wild West,’ and it has been the setting for many movies, many collectors are more attracted to San Francisco and Carson City Mint coins.

Eagles of the ‘so called’ No Motto type were minted from 1839 to 1866. A slightly different type, which also lacked the ‘Motto,’ was minted only in 1838 and early 1839. The Motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ was added to Eagles and several other denominations in 1866. For the whole ‘No Motto’ Eagle type, there are a very small number of coins that merit choice uncirculated grades, MS-63 and higher.

Those who collect Eagles ‘by date’ typically think about the difficulties involved in finding high grade examples of any ‘No Motto’ date. Few give conscious thought to the rarity of the 1858. Except perhaps the 1847, the 1949 and the 1855, all ‘No Motto’ Eagles are extremely rare in the grade range of MS-60 and higher.

Two to four 1858 Eagles are usually auctioned each year. Some coins may re-appear a few times during a ten year period.

The two leading grading and authentication services report certifying a total of nearly seventy 1858 Eagles. I theorize that this total really indicates only twenty-five to thirty-four different 1858 Eagles. Further, there are probably between eight and twelve that have never been submitted to either leading service, the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) or the Numismatic Guaranty Corp (NGC). A few of these have been encapsulated by other certification firms.

There are uncertified, very rare coins in museums and old-time collections. People who inherit very rarer coins often do not understand what they have, or do not even remember that they inherited coins. Plus, there are some collectors, particularly of substantially worn coins, who prefer that their coins not be certified.

This 1858 Eagle is from the Palakika collection. It is PCGS graded “MS-64.” There are none that have ever received a higher grade. Furthermore, no other 1858 Eagle has ever been graded as high as MS-62.

In 1988, the late researcher Walter Breen mentioned only one uncirculated 1858 Eagle in his encyclopedia. The Heritage cataloger indicates that it is the same 1858 that is now being offered. Heritage catalogues and Breen tell a consistent story of the coin being purchased by MTB in 1972 and then sold to someone named Bohren. After Bohren’s death, it was consigned to the 1980 apostrophe auction, where it realized $115,000, which was an astounding price at the time!

According to a Whitman auction record compilation, covering the period from 1994 to 2004, only one 1858 that graded MS-60 or higher was auctioned. By accident, an earlier appearance of this same Palakika 1858 is not included in the Whitman listing. Heritage sold it in October 1995 for a reported $104,500. It was PCGS graded MS-64 then as well. The 1995 catalog description and the 2007 description both assert that the 1858 Eagle that the NGC had graded MS-64 is this exact same coin. The Palakika 1858 seems to be in a league of its own.

The business strike in the Smithsonian Institution is “estimated” by PCGS officials to grade EF-45. Even if that grade is debatable, it is certainly nowhere near the quality of the Palakika 1858 Eagle.

In July 1997, Heritage sold an NGC graded “MS-61” 1858 Eagle for $17,250. In February 2005, Heritage sold an NGC graded “MS-60” 1858 for $22,425 to a floor bidder. The same “MS-60” Eagle was also offered at auction in 2004. If there is another 1858 that is NGC graded MS-60, I have no idea as to its whereabouts.

The Garrett Collection did not have an 1858 Eagle. This is unsurprising as business strike ‘No Motto’ $10 gold coins were not one of the focuses of the collection. The Garrett Collection was sold by Bowers & Ruddy in 1979-80.

The Pittman collection of U.S. coins was auctioned by the firm of David Akers in 1997 and 1998. John J. Pittman also did not have an 1858 Eagle, though he did have many of the ‘No Motto’ dates, including the rare 1841-O Eagle. Interestingly, it is widely known that Pittman specialized in pre-1860 Proofs. He did not have a Proof 1858 either.

The U.S. coins in the Norweb Family collection were sold in 1987 and 1988. The Norweb family had an 1858, that was graded “Choice Very Fine-30 or finer” in 1987 and may possibly grade EF-40 to AU-50 today?

Floyd Starr had quite a few gold rarities from the early to mid 19th century. He did not have an 1858 Eagle. The Richmond Collection, auctioned by DLRC in 2004-05, was missing only one date in its set of Eagles from 1795 to 1933. The Richmond 1858 is NGC graded VF-35.

The Harry Bass 1858 Eagle was PCGS graded AU-53 and auctioned by B&M in Nov. 2000. It sold for $9775. A moment later, an 1858-O, PCGS graded MS-62, realized $13,225! The 1858-O is not one of the rarest ‘No Motto’ Eagles, though it is rare. There are probably two to four times as many 1858-O Eagles in existence as 1858 Eagles.

Louis Eliasberg built the greatest and most complete collection of U.S coins of all time. His 1858 was graded “AU-50” by Q. David Bowers back in 1982. Bowers pedigreed it to the William Atwater collection that was sold in 1946.

The PCGS registry indicates that PCGS officials have “estimated” that the Eliasberg 1858 would be graded “AU-58” by PCGS if submitted. Many such estimates are derived from notes taken by three eventual founders of PCGS who attended the Eliasberg gold sale in 1982.

Regarding the Eliasberg 1858, a participant in the PCGS message boards, “RYK,” posted a pertinent message on Sept. 23, 2006. I just came across it, by way of a search, in April 2007. He identifies the 1858 that ANR offered in June 2005 as the Eliasberg 1858 Eagle. Sure enough, it is so. I carefully compared the pictures in the Eliasberg catalogue with the ANR images. As of June 2005, it was NGC graded AU-58. In March 2007, Heritage auctioned it for $18,700, though the Heritage cataloger made no mention of its pedigree.

ANR sold a NGC graded AU-58 1858 Eagle in July 2003, and Bowers and Merena offered another (or the same?) NGC AU-58 Eagle a year earlier, in July 2002. The 1858 that ANR sold in 2003 is definitely different from the Eliasberg 1858 Eagle.

Stack’s auctioned a PCGS graded AU-53 1858 in 1996, which must have been different from the Bass 1858 Eagle. Heritage auctioned an NGC graded AU-55 example in July 2004. It is reported to have sold to an Internet bidder for $13,318.

The Whitman listing reports that zero Proof 1858 Eagles were auctioned from 1994 to 2004. Moreover, none of the great collections mentioned above contained a Proof 1858 Eagle!

Amon Carter had a Proof 1858 Eagle. Though Norman Stack never used numerical grades for gold coins, his description in 1984 could possibly be interpreted as indicating that this coin grades Proof-64 or –65 if current standards and criteria are employed, and if the coin has not changed in the interim. Both Breen and Norman Stack state that the Smithsonian and the American Numismatic Society have Proof 1858 Eagles. These have never been submitted to a grading service.

Breen traced the Carter 1858 as being from the Parmelee, Newcomer, and F.C.C. Boyd collections. He said that the Proof 1858 Eagle that was in the Virgil Brand collection is a different piece. At the January 1984 Stack’s auction, the Parmelee-Carter 1858 realized $121,000. David Akers was the successful bidder.

I wonder if the one Proof-64 1858 that the PCGS has graded and the two that are listed in the NGC census are all the same coin, the Parmelee-Carter 1858. If not, when and where did another surface and is it the Brand 1858?

It seems that there are three or four Proof 1858 Eagles, two of which are in museums. My estimate of thirty-three to forty-six business strikes known is higher than Akers’ estimate, put forth in the 1970s, that there are twenty-five to thirty.

David Akers is quoted in this regard by Q. David Bowers in the 1982 Eliasberg gold catalogue. The twenty-five to thirty estimate is repeated in several Heritage catalogues, though, in March 2007, a Heritage cataloger said that “around” thirty survive.

When I formed my estimates, I considered auction appearances (including some plate matchings), dealer offerings, the collections cited above, 1858 Eagles that have been certified by ANACS and NCS, clues I have about those in current private collections, and my analysis of the PCGS and NGC data. It is impossible to explain all my reasoning on this topic, and my theory is tentative. I have concluded that the number that grade from Fine-12 to EF-40 has been under-estimated, as have the number of problematic examples.

Quite a few epic collections have lacked an 1858 Eagle, and this fact has contributed to past under-estimates of the number that survive. I hypothesize that the great collectors of the past were often turning down or ignoring VF to EF examples, and even problematic AU coins, while waiting for higher grade 1858 Eagles to become available

As there seems to be only one choice uncirculated 1858 Eagle, collectors who were determined to obtain one probably waited until they died. Even those collectors seeking an AU-55 to MS-61 grade 1858 may have waited, or searched, for years without finding one! Moreover, it is likely that such collectors ‘turned down’ some 1858 Eagles in the 55 to 61 range because coins in this grade range often have technical problems and/or annoying imperfections.

The absence of an 1858 Eagle from many great collections does not shed light on the number of Fine to EF grade 1858 Eagles that were or are around. Collectors in the past over-estimated the number of 1858 Eagles that grade AU-53 and higher, and researchers in recent decades have under-estimated the number that grade lower. Besides, it always was and still is unusual for advanced collectors of gold coins to acquire Very Fine grade, or problematic pieces, except for examples of the greatest of rarities.

In the 1946 catalogue of the William Atwater collection, B. Max Mehl said that there were “probably” only six business strikes in existence. As Mehl was known for excessive promoting, exaggeration, and hyperbole, his claim was probably dismissed as mere advertising, especially by those who had personally seen more than six.

Did any prominent cataloger or researcher focus on 1858 Eagles before Mehl? Has anyone really tried to keep track of the number that grade from Fine to EF, including those that have never been offered at auction?

There seems to be agreement that there are fewer than fifty in total. It is certain that a very small number grade above 53, and that the Palakika 1858 is the only business strike has ever been reliably graded above 63. Therefore, 1858 Eagles should get more attention and respect. They may even become the topic of conversations.

© 2007 Greg Reynolds

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