1861 $2.50 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle, New Reverse PCGS AU58

Here’s a great piece to add to your collection. Perhaps it could serve as a gold type coin. PCGS has graded 451 as AU58 with 918 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $950.00 in AU58.

Comparison photos of Old Reverse and New Reverse. Photo courtesy of PCGS Coinfacts.

The long-lasting design of the Liberty head on the quarter eagle was unequaled in United States numismatic history until it was passed by the Roosevelt dime. This makes the Liberty quarter eagle the second longest continuous use of a coin motif without a major design modification.  When this issue was first struck in 1840, much of the United States was a wild frontier, with millions of buffalo roaming the Great Plains.

When the final Liberty head quarter eagles were produced in 1907, an amazing 67 years later, America was a very different country than it had been back in 1840. The rugged distinctiveness that characterized 19th century America's national spirit remained, however it became a more mature nation, one that made its powerful economic and military presence known around the world.