The 1883-O Coronet gold $10 eagle has a legendary low mintage of just 800 pieces, each struck from the same die pair. Professional Coin Grading Service Coin Facts estimates a survival rate of 40 coins.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries calls it the rarest New Orleans Mint gold eagle, citing specialist Doug Winter’s estimate that no more than 55 survive in all grades. Even examples with problems are eagerly pursued, such as this one, graded About Uncirculated Details, Cleaned, by Numismatic Guaranty Corp., that sold Dec. 18 for $38,400.
“This AU coin, although not a perfect example, still looms large among survivors of this rare and conditionally challenging issue,” the Stack’s Bowers description states. Population reports confirm that most the surviving examples are at the Very Fine to Extremely Fine grade levels.
The cataloger cited a bold strike with a bit of softness in details confined to the stars at the peripheries, observing, “Evidence for the NGC qualifier is minor, the surfaces free of sizeable blemishes apart from a single mark in the lower left obverse field,” before concluding, “Uncommonly attractive for the assigned grade and sure to see spirited bidding.”
