1854-D Quarter Eagle - 1854-D $2.50 NGC XF45 CAC. This very low mintage lightly circulated Southern branch mint 1854-D Quarter Eagle is the second finest known at CAC. For the issue the coin has an above average obverse strike with strong details present on the centers of most of the stars. The light yellow and gold colors confirm the coins originality. Hints of original mint luster are seen within the devices, and the surfaces are extremely clean for the grade with no notable abrasion marks or other distractions. The raised die lines to the left of the date appear on all coins of this issue and do not affect the grade. The CAC sticker indicates that the coin is of premium quality and fully merits the grade assigned.

Christian Gobrechts quarter eagle was produced without substantial modification from 1840 to 1907, the longest span in any United States coinage series. It uses the Coronet design which shows Liberty in profile facing left, her hair tied tightly in beads, except for two curls one down the back of her neck and the other on the side below her ear, with the word LIBERTY inscribed on the coronet. She is surrounded by thirteen stars, and the date is below the truncation. Dentils are around the periphery of both sides. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle facing left holding arrows and olive branch it its talons. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arcs around it, interrupted by the wing tips, and the denomination 2 D. is below. The denomination is separated from the legend with dots. The mintmark is below the eagle on the reverse.

Gobrecht 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. In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to William Kneass. After Kneass suffered a debilitating 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. 

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 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.

In its population report, NGC shows 2 1854-D quarter eagles in XF45 condition. At CAC, as of July 2013, there is one, the present coin, confirmed in XF45 condition with 2 higher.