1839 Quarter Eagle - 1839 $2.50 PCGS XF45 CAC. This highly underrated 1839 Classic Head Quarter Eagle has beautiful, rich color and muted mint luster. The coin shows slight wear on its high points, and the grade of Choice XF is confirmed by its CAC sticker indicating a premium quality piece that fully merits the grade assigned. The surfaces are original, clean, and, for the grade, especially free of distracting individual marks. All examples of this date were struck from a defective punch, and some have even been incorrectly certified as overdates.

Designed by William Kneass, the Classic Head quarter eagle 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 of the written as 2 D. is below.

Because the gold coinage in circulation was being melted for its gold content, 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 quarter eagle and half eagle 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 1839 quarter eagle had an original mintage of 27,021; however, fewer have been certified than any other date in the series. In its population report, PCGS shows 10 in XF45 condition with 23 better. As of March 2012, CAC shows 2 at XF45 with 4 better.