1852-O Eagle - 1852-O $10 NGC AU53. This colorful, Southern branch mint 1852-O Eagle is the fifth rarest of the 21 New Orleans Mint eagle issues. Traces of mint luster remain within the devices of both sides. The obverse is yellow-gold and orange-gold with the darker color around the periphery and within the coronet. It also outlines the effigy. The reverse is a mixture of green-gold and yellow-gold with the eagle highlighted in the latter. The strike is above average, especially for this mint, with about half of the stars showing details as well as the eagles neck and the area to the lower left of the shield. A tiny hollow ring is visible in the center of the reverse, which was probably a centering device used by the engraver.

Authorized to produce gold and silver, the New Orleans Mint struck quarter eagles and dimes in 1839. It operated from 1838 to 1909. In that time period 427 million silver and gold coins with the O mintmark were coined. By the mid 1850s denominations made in New Orleans included three-cent silver pieces, half-dimes, dimes, quarters, half dollars, silver dollars, gold dollars, quarter eagles, three-dollar pieces, half eagles, eagles, and double eagles. The first deposit was of Mexican dollars which amounted to more than 32,400 dollars. The first coins struck were Liberty Seated dimes. Each year between the beginning of August and the end of November, the mint closed because of the annual outbreak of yellow fever.

Christian Gobrecht, who designed the Liberty Head eagle, became the third Chief Engraver at the United States Mint. He was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1785. His father was a German immigrant, and his mother traced her ancestry to the early settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Gobrecht married Mary Hewes in 1818. One of his early positions was as an engraver of clocks in Baltimore. Later he went to Philadelphia where he became a banknote engraver. He invented a machine that allowed one to convert a three-dimensional medal into an illustration.

This was an excellent job and Gobrecht was understandably reluctant to work for the Mint for less money than he was making at the engraving firm. In order to persuade him to leave, Mint Director Robert Patterson prevailed upon Chief Engraver William Kneass, who had had a stroke, to take less in salary so more money would be available to hire Gobrecht on a permanent basis. In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to Kneass. After Kneass stroke, Gobrecht did all the die and pattern work for the Mint. He became Chief Engraver in 1840 and served until his death in 1844. He was famous for his Liberty Seated motif which was used for all denominations of silver coinage including the half-dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar and silver dollar. He also designed the Liberty Head gold eagle, a motif that was also used on the half-cent, the cent, the gold quarter eagle, and the gold half eagle. 

Pre Civil War gold from the New Orleans Mint is rare because of low original mintages and low survival rates. The 1852-O is moderately scarce. In its population report, NGC shows 24 in AU53 condition with 32 better.