1897-O $10 Liberty Head Eagle PCGS MS62 (CAC)
SOLD
SKU
7341985
This is a rare, beautiful relic from the New Orleans mint. Out of its slight mintage of 42,500, only 468 have been graded by PCGS. And of those, just 94 carry the very collectible grade of MS62 (as of 9/2021). This piece also has the prestigious green CAC sticker, attesting to its superiority within its grade. This striking 1897-O Eagle is one of only 26 of 145 total coins graded by both PCGS and NGC (in grades MS62 and MS62+) to be honored with the CAC designation. Look at the images of this attractive coin and imagine holding it in your hand.
It is with pleasure that we at AUCM offer to the collecting community a dramatic 1897-O $10 Liberty head Eagle, graded PCGS MS62 (CAC). This would be an excellent addition to the collection of a specialist in U.S. gold coins with the Gobrecht design of the Coronet Liberty head (Quarter Eagle, Half Eagle, Eagle, and Double Eagle). Doug Winter writes, "Due to its lower mintage, the 1897-O eagle is scarcer than the earlier issues from this decade....There are some 1897-O eagles known with outstanding color and the collector should be able to find a pleasing piece with some amount of patience." No need for patience! This example has "outstanding color"!
Discussing the design found upon the Liberty Head eagle, numismatic scholar and art critic Cornelius Vermeule writes, "Gobrecht executed new designs (1838) for the $10 denomination in gold, a coin known as an eagle. The bust of Liberty with an inscribed coronet in her hair that graced the obverse was to remain on the gold coinage until 1908." The reverse differed little from the design in use since 1807 on the $5 gold piece save that the wings of the eagle spread from one edge of the coin to the other. Commenting upon the inspiration for Gobrecht's Liberty, Vermeule writes, "The motivation for this Roman head of Liberty stems from vast, varied neoclassicism of the Napoleonic era. Typical of the source is a small painting ... by Jacques-Louis David's contemporary Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, Phythagoras or The Earth is Round, painted about 1800. ... [On the painting it] is the diademed or coroneted, white-robed, seated female that should attract our attention, for she is related to the heads of Liberty on our 19th century gold ... coinage."
| PCGS # | 8738 |
|---|---|
| Grading Service | PCGS |
| Year of Issue | 1897 |
| Grade | MS62 |
| Denom Type | Liberty Head $10 |
| Numeric Denomination | $10 |
| Mint Location | New Orleans |
| Designation | NONE |
| Circ/UnCirc | Uncirculated |
| Strike Type | Business |
| Grade Add On | CAC |
| Holder Type | N/A |
