The 1858-S is sort of an overlooked date but it is actually rather scarce in the lower AU grades and very hard to find with nice color and surfaces. This fresh “Euro” example shows rich pinkish-gold, green and orange hues with deeper highlights on the relief areas. It has the body and detail of an AU55 but just a few too many ticks in the fields to grade it as such.  
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Medium S mintmark. A fresh European example recently graded by PCGS in their Paris office and notable for strong luster, light even wear and nominally abraded surfaces. Not really a rare coin in this grade but a pleasing, wholesome piece which is desirable as an affordable early SF mint eagle.  
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As a rule, I like coins with real historic significance and the 1854-S eagle certainly falls into this category as it is the very first Liberty Head eagle struck at the San Francisco mint. Unlike the exceedingly rare quarter eagle and half eagle dated 1854-S, the eagle is a relatively obtainable issue although it is uncommon in AU55, rare in AU58 and extremely rare in Uncirculated.   
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Throughout the history of gold coin production in the United States there have been a number of instances where two different designs were produced simultaneously, or at least within the same year.   
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Sure, every gold coin collector would love to have an unlimited budget. But few do. Is it possible to be an individual of average or slightly above-average means and still be a collector of U.S. gold? I contend that the answer is a resounding “yes” and I’d like to suggest a dozen collecting areas that are priced at $2,500 or less. My basic parameters are that each is undervalued, interesting to collect and they can be found with some patience.

Instead of focusing on specific issues (which, for the collector, can be like finding a needle in a haystack) I’m going to be a bit more general and focus on small groups or subsets of coins. Not every date within this group may be of interest to the collector (or fall within the parameters of affordability that we have established) but enough will qualify to make them worthy of serious consideration.

One of my favorite under-the-radar U.S. gold issues is the 1857-S gold dollar. This is a coin that is really hard to find yet nice examples can still be purchased for less than $2,000. Read on for some “need to know” information about this interesting issue. San Francisco only produced gold dollars for a total of seven years.   
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