1801 Gold Eagle - The 1801 eagle is the most available ten dollar gold piece of the type minted between 1797 and 1804. It also has the highest mintage of the series, usually considered to be 44,344 pieces. Of that number, 15,090 pieces were not delivered until 1802, while no coins of that date were struck. Yet, this issue can not be considered to be a common coin or not being scarce at all. In other series, coins with a mintage below 50,000 coins are considered to be prime rarities, and in many series the lowest mintage is much higher than that of the 1801 eagle (1801 ten dollar gold piece). But, within the series, and within the context of early American gold coins, this issue can be considered to be available.

The total mintage was struck from just two different die pairs, indicating that the strength and lifetime of the dies was gradually improving during the early 19th century. In earlier times, dies often cracked and later broke, making the lifetime of a single die to be extremely short. For example, the second lowest mintage of the series, the 1799 eagle was struck using six different pair of dies with a total of ten different die combinations. All of this, obviously, was an expensive factor for the early United States Mint and we can guess what the relief of officials was when dies lasted longer than ever before.

The first variety of 1801 eagle, BD-1 (as per Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties, Bass-Dannreuther) was struck before the final coins dated 1800 had been minted. The obverse die appears to have broken early in its use, causing the rarity of this variety. It is considered to have an R-5 rarity rating, indicating that an estimated 40 to 50 pieces are known in all grades. The reverse die used for this variety was first used to strike 1799 dated pieces, although it appears to have been made in mid 1800. During the previous year it was also used to strike all 1800 eagles, but it appeared to remain in sufficient condition to be used one more time for coinage, to create this variety.

The second variety, BD-2 is considered to be the most common of all early eagle varieties, with an R-2 rarity rating. Estimates range from 600 to 800 known in the Bass-Dannreuther reference, although some publications list a number of close to 1,000 pieces known in all grades. Whatever the true number is, this variety is available and is often included to represent the large eagle ten dollar gold piece in type sets. These two different varieties are usually identified by the obverse stars. While both being of the large type commonly used during this era, they are still distinctive. BD-1 used a punch with short and thick spines, while BD-2 used spines which were longer and thinner. The reverses are usually identified by the lower beak of the eagle, with BD-1 touching the stare, whereas BD-2 does not.

Unlike many of the previous dates, this issue has many examples known in mint state condition, although most are limited in grade by many bag marks. The majority thus are graded between about uncirculated and MS-62. Higher graded examples are seen, but become very scarce above MS-63. MS-64 pieces are very rare, and only a couple pieces have been confirmed that are graded MS-65. Even more so than other issues of this type, the lower mint state grades appear to be influenced by many resubmissions in the population reports. As such, great care should be taken while classifying these coins as common, as there might be a lot less examples on the market than the population reports would indicate.