Reported mintage: 112
Estimated number of pieces known: 12-16 (11-14% of original mintage)
Characteristics: 1860 Proof Quarter Eagle date lightly impressed, with the numeral 1 punched high, close to bust, other numerals further down to the right, with numeral 0 close to dentils. 8 6 punched slightly higher into the die than other numerals, 0 much lower. Reverse is that of the new reverse, type II with small lettering and arrowheads. No Proofs are known with the old reverse, but business strikes have been reported so the existence of one such piece might be possible. Second A in AMERICA usually with top part filled, other letters are clear. Per Breen, reverse stripes in shield are thin, especially so in the middle. All dentils are widely spaced on the reverse, with lettering heavy.

Comments: The first Proof quarter eagle from the turbulent 1860s has a reported mintage of 112 pieces. However, perhaps no more than thirty pieces were actually distributed, with the remaining number melted. That number has been quoted in classic references as the estimated number of survivors, but we think that number of true survivors is much lower. Auction appearances are very rare, and perhaps less than once a decade an example turns up at public auction or in the inventory of a dealer. When it appears on the market, it usually attracts a lot of attention from specialists who understand the true rarity of this early Proof quarter eagle.

In his Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Proof coins, Walter Breen identified a total of fourteen different examples, with perhaps twenty to thirty in existence. Some coins in his listing might be duplicates or kept of the market since the 1970s and earlier, as identification by pictures and descriptions is difficult. Complete Proof gold sets of the gold denominations were delivered on April 30, with the regular total being thirty sets. Two complete sets of 1860 Proof gold coins are still known to exist, one in the Smithsonian and the other in the American Numismatic society collection. All other sets are now broken up, or were never sold in the first place, and were later melted at the Mint.

The 1860 Proof quarter eagle appears to be the 3rd rarest Proof issue of this decade. The next year, 1861, appears to be slightly rarer than this issue. While the 1863 is a famous Proof rarity with no circulation strikes struck, only the 1868 comes close to the rarity of these 1860 and 1861 Proofs. That issue has a reported mintage of 25 coins and an estimated dozen pieces believed to be still in existence. The finest known that has been graded is the Harry W. Bass collection example, last sold at that auction in 2000 and graded as PCGS PR-66. Other examples are known in lower grades, mostly around the PR-64 level with moderate to full cameo surfaces. It would not be a great surprise to discover a circulated Proof of this date, as some Proof gold coins are known to have entered circulation after the American Civil War, only to be retracted from it once their true value was realized.