Liberty Head Quarter Eagle

Coin	Weight (g)	Composition	Gold Melt Value	Full Melt Value
Liberty (1840-1907)	4.18	Gold 90%, Copper 10%

The Liberty Head Quarter Eagle were designed by Christian Gobrecht in 1839 and minted in 1840 through 1907, this makes this gold coin the longest running coin minted by the US Mint. Gobrecht was hired in 1826 as the assistant engraver to the Chief Engraver William Kneass. When Kneass had a massive stroke Gobrecht started covering Kneass duties. In 1840 it was obvious that Kneass would not recover enough of his facilities to do the work and Gobrecht was promoted to Chief Engraver. Gobrecht had redesigned a significant portion of the United States coinage; including creating the Seated Liberty design that was used for all of the United States silver coins. His Liberty Head design with Coronet was also used on the gold eagle and half eagle, as well as the copper cent and half cent.

These Liberty Head $2.50 gold coins are 18 millimeters in diameter, weigh 4.18 grams of 90% gold with a combination of silver and copper making up the other 10%. They all have a reeded edge. The obverse has Liberty’s Head facing left which looks a lot like the “Braided Hair” half cent and “Matron Head” large cent. Liberty has her hair pulled up in a bun and wears a coronet with “LIBERTY” on it. Directly under her is the date and encircling her are thirteen stars.

The reverse has a slightly modified bald eagle based on John Reich’s original design that William Kneass did minor changes to. The bald eagle has its wings spread wide with a national shield on its chest. It is in a perched posse with three arrows in its left talon and an olive branch in its right. The mint mark, if any, is directly under the eagle with the denomination “2 1/2 D.” under that along the rim. Dots are at either side of the denomination separating it from the legend; “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”

Gobrecht’s Liberty Head Gold Quarter Eagle were minted in the Southern gold only US branches in Charlotte, NC and Dahlonega, GA using the mint marks “C” and “D” respectively and in New Orleans, LA using “O” as its mint mark. Because of the US Civil War all three of the branch mints were seized by the Confederates in 1861, only the New Orleans’ branch was opened in 1879 long after the conclusion of the Civil War. The Californian US Mint’s branch was opened in 1854 and used “S” as its mint mark. The United States main mint in Philadelphia struck the bulk of these gold coins continuously through the series.

An interesting development as a reaction to the Californian Gold rush is the 1848 “CAL” Quarter Eagle. These were struck in Philadelphia from 230 ounces of gold the military governor of California Col. R. B. Mason sent the US Secretary of War William L. Marcy. The reverse of these gold coins has “CAL” above the eagle’s head and under the rims legend “STATES”. However these are over strike coins and there are a number of minor variations among these. Another important note is that no quarter eagles San Francisco from 1880 through 1907. There are counterfeit 1905-S coins that have been found.

The Mint in Philadelphia struck Proof coins for this series every year starting with only five or so up to 1858 when there were about ten. There are years that Proof coins were minted even though Philadelphia struck no quarter eagles of circulation, this includes 20 in 1841 and 30 in 1863. After 1858 the number of Proof strikes varies greatly, even up to 223 in 1901.

The Coronet Quarter Eagles’ along with other US gold coins of this era have surfaced from caches in Europe. This effect on the numismatic value of the generally circulated coins and pushes higher end collects to search out higher grade coins.

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