About the Coin

The Liberty Head quarter eagle was a very long running series as they were struck from 1840 through 1907. During those 68 years, not a single year was missed although there were a few years with very small mintages such as the 1875 with only 400 quarter eagles struck in Philadelphia.

In 1848, California gold was sent to the Secretary of War in Washington. Some of that gold was given to the mint in Philadelphia and 1,389 quarter eagles were struck with it. Above the eagle on the reverse, each of these coins was punched with "CAL."

In 1859, a new reverse was introduced in Philadelphia featuring smaller letters and arrowheads although some coins from 1859 through 1861 still exhibited the old large letters. In 1877 the new reverse began to appear on San Francisco quarter eagles as well.

The cool thing about the series is that you can collect an example from each of the following mints: Carson City, Charlotte, Dahlonega, Denver, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

This 1907 $2.50 Liberty Head quarter eagle is the only pre-1933 gold coin in The Arlington Collection that grades as high as MS-66. I have three MS-65 $20 Type 1 double eagles, each from a different shipwreck, but nothing that grades this high.

Designer: Christian Gobrecht
Weight: 8.359 grams
Diameter: approx. 21.6mm, reeded edge
Composition: 90% gold, 10% copper