1836 $2.50 Classic Head Quarter Eagle, Block 8 PCGS AU55

Here’s a dramatic specimen to include in your numismatic collection. This piece is much more affordable than gold pieces dated before 1834. To find out why, please see below. PCGS has graded 43 as Block 8 AU55 with 98 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $2,000.00 in Block 8 AU55.

Classic Head $2.50 1836 Block 8 date comparison. Photo courtesy of PCGS Coinfacts website.

Ron Guth writes in PCGS Coinfacts, "In 1834, Mint officials changed the design on the Quarter Eagles to comply with the new Coinage Act of June 28, 1834, which law reduced the weight of the Quarter Eagles to prevent melting. On the obverse, Liberty no longer wore a cap; rather the design was a copy of that seen on Classic Head Half Cents of 1809-1836 and Large Cents of 1808-1814."

Before mintage of the $2.50 Classic Head quarter eagle began in 1834, it was Spanish and other foreign silver and fractional banknotes that served as currency in everyday business transactions in America. U.S. gold coins--with a bullion value in global markets that exceeded their face value in silver--were endlessly the object of melting during the pre-1834 period. The Mint Act of 1834 dramatically changed that practice, producing gold coins that were reduced in weight so that they would circulate--which had not happened ever since the U.S. first produced gold coins back in 1795.