The 1893-O is the most available With Motto half eagle from New Orleans but it is not plentiful in properly graded MS62 and it is very scarce in MS63 or above. This frosty piece has cleaner surfaces than usual for the date and grade.

One of only 36 Proofs struck. This coin is at least a PR64 if not a full-blown Gem but it has been net graded by PCGS on account of some edge marks at 2:00 on the obverse. I’m not certain but this might be an ex: Kaufman Collection coin that was sold by RARCOA years ago; some of these coins were mounted by tacks to boards for display and were partially damaged on their edges as a result.

In my opinion, there are few designs that look better in higher grades than the Classic Head quarter eagles and half eagles. These coins tend to have nice color and, if they are unmessed-with, great luster and eye appeal. The present example is a lovely piece for the quality-conscious type collector with rich mellow green-gold color over clean, strongly lustrous surfaces.

Going back a few decades, the 1858 was regarded as one of the rarest Liberty Head eagles. In fact, it was among the more desirable Liberty Head gold issues of any denomination. As the eagle series became more collected and better researched, it was learned that other dates were rarer but the 1858 has, in recent years, sort of unfairly lost some of its mojo. Only 2,521 were struck and of these no more than four or five dozen are known.

This coin ably illustrates why I like the AU58 grade so much. It has nearly full luster and shows no real wear (just some minor rub on the obverse high spots) yet it is priced at around half the amount that an MS61 would be, if available. This example has lovely rich rose and orange-gold color, nice luster and very choice surfaces with just a few small marks visible with the naked eye.

This second-year-of-issue double eagle from San Francisco is not as scarce as the first-year 1854-S but it is an undervalued issue in its own right. The 1855-S is mostly found in the EF40 to AU50 grades and it becomes scarce in properly graded Choice AU. This lustrous example is among the most original 1855-S double eagles that I can recall having seen with appealing medium to deep rose and green-gold colors on the obverse and reverse.