1849-D Quarter Eagle - 1849-D $2.50 NGC AU58. This eye-appealing, Southern branch mint, near-Mint State 1849-D Quarter Eagle has just a touch of wear on its highest points. The fields are original and clean for the grade. The coin is lustrous in protected areas of both sides. The strike is strong with full details on the highest points of Libertys hair, the centers of the stars, the eagles neck, and the area to the lower left of the shield.
 
The discovery of gold in the early 1800s led to the establishment of two of the Southern branch mints, Charlotte North Carolina and Dahlonega Georgia. In 1835 an act of Congress mandated that these two branch mints would coin only gold. The New Orleans Mint also opened to handle gold from Mexico. In 1838 the first Dahlonega gold coins were made, and they were the Classic Head half eagle type. Because of the local alloys high silver content, Dahlonega gold coins often have a green-gold cast. They are also often weakly struck on irregular planchets. Dahlonega gold coins are eagerly sought by collectors and investors because of their low mintages and rarity. Modern D mint coins should not be confused with Dahlonega coins. Today a coin bearing the D mintmark was minted in Denver, which began production in 1906.

A large group of miners came to the frontier town of Auraria, which is now Lumpkin County, Georgia. Its name derives from aurum, the Latin word for gold. Soon Dahlonega, which meant yellow money in Cherokee, would become the county seat. The miners need to convert oar and dust into bullion led to the establishment of private coiners, including the Bechtlers and Templeton Reid; however, because of a lack of standardization, there was pressure for a federal coinage to be created. The federal branch mint at Dahlonega was established to meet this need.

A building was erected in the town of Dahlonega. Power for its coining equipment came from steam produced in a boiler in the basement. Two small steam driven presses were on the first floor just above the boiler room. They could produce one coin per second. Because of the small size of the presses, the largest coins produced were half eagles
 
The 1849-D quarter eagle is extremely rare in Mint State with only 13 examples certified by both major grading services; consequently, owners of AU58 examples have inflated the population report with multiple resubmissions in hopes of achieving an uncirculated grade. In its population report, NGC has 40 1849-D quarter eagles in AU58 condition with 9 better.