Price: 11,900.00 - SOLD - 10/23/2012* Free Shipping and Insurance for coins at $10K or above.
1839-O Quarter Eagle - 1839-O $2.5 NGC MS61. The 1st gold coin from the New Orleans mint. This attractive, well struck, Mint State, Southern branch mint 1839-O Quarter Eagle has subdued mint luster remaining in some of the protected areas on both sides of the coin. Full details are present on the higher areas of Libertys hair curls, the centers of most of the stars, and the reverse rims. There is slight weakness on the lower left of the shield. The surfaces are original and exceptionally clean for the grade with just some light abrasion marks on each side, none of which is individually noteworthy.
The Classic Head quarter eagle was minted from 1834 to 1839. Designed by William Kneass, it shows a head of Liberty in profile facing left. She wears a LIBERTY inscribed headband that reveals the curly hair on top of her head, which also flows down her neck. She is surrounded by thirteen six-pointed stars, and the date is below. Dentils are around the periphery of the coin. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with its head facing left. In its talons are olive branch and arrows, symbols of peace and preparedness. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in an arc around the eagle, interrupted by the wing tips. The denomination, written as 2 D., is below. The mintmark is on the obverse below the truncation and above the 3 in the date.
Because the gold coinage in circulation was being melted for its bullion value, Mint Director Samuel Moore ordered William Kneass to design quarter and half eagles with lower weight and fineness. He also told Kneass to omit the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM on the new Classic Head coins so they would be easily identified as being made with less gold content. This action prevented the older gold coins from being exported, and the public was thus induced to bring them into the Mint for recoinage.
The Classic Head motif chosen by Kneass is a copy of John Reichs Large Cent design of 1808-1814 and the half cents of 1825-1836. The eagle design is also similar to an earlier Reich eagle designed for gold coins.
There were several design changes in the series. In 1834 there were two heads, the Small Head and the Booby Head. The next year there was a taller head and a narrow bust. In that year Kneass suffered a debilitating stroke. Christian Gobrecht, his assistant, made the next dies. The 1836 had a Head of 1835 and another with a Head of 1834. No doubt these were made from earlier dies. In 1837 Gobrecht made a new die, which had his own change. The hair slopes back from the brow, distant from the sixth star. In 1838 he made a crude imitation of the Booby Head with tiny stars. In 1840 all of this uncertainty ended with the introduction of the Coronet Head motif that was standardized for sixty-seven years.
William Kneass was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was a field engineer in the War of 1812 and helped fortify the city of Philadelphia. He was an engraver of plates for books and had his business on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. In addition to line engraving he also made intaglio prints. He worked in two firms, Kneass & Delaker and Young & Kneass & Co. At the Mint, Kneass was known as a popular and useful Engraver, who worked well and quickly to furnish all the dies that were needed for coinage during his time of office. He was remembered as, a warm gentleman of the old-school, who had the rare quality of engaging and winning the esteem and affection of children and youth. Kneass suffered a stroke in August, 1835. From then until his death, Assistant Engraver Christian Gobrecht did the pattern and die work at the Mint. He was succeeded by Gobrecht as Chief Engraver on December 21, 1840.
Because the 1839-O quarter eagle was the first gold coin made at the New Orleans Mint and the last Classic Head type, it is a popular issue. In its population report, NGC shows 20 in MS61 with 30 better.
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