Gobrecht's
Liberty Head Quarter Eagle (1840-1907): Christian
Gobrecht designed the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle. It was minted
from 1840 to 1907, the longest span of any coinage series
without any major design modification. In that period of time
11,921,171 Liberty Head Quarter Eagles were minted.
Gobrecht used the coronet motif for his Liberty
Head Quarter Eagle design. It shows a profile of Liberty facing
left. Her hair is tied in the back with beads as two curls
flow down her neck. On the coronet the word LIBERTY is inscribed.
She is surrounded by thirteen six-pointed stars and the date,
which is below the truncation. At the periphery of the Liberty
Head Quarter Eagle are dentils on both sides of the coin.
The reverse of the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle shows a heraldic
eagle with wings outstretched looking to the left. In its
talons it holds the olive branch and arrows, symbols of peace
and preparedness. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
is in an arc around the eagle, interrupted by the wing tips.
The denomination written as 2 ½ D. is below, separated
from the inscription by dots.
In 1859 James Longacre, who was now the Mint
Chief Engraver, slightly modified the reverse by making the
arrowheads smaller and further apart; however, in San Francisco
the old reverse was used until 1867. In 1866 it was mandated
that the motto IN GOD WE TRUST be added to all coinage large
enough to accommodate it. It was decided that the quarter
eagle was too small for this modification.
As an anti-counterfeiting device, these coins
were completely hubbed except for the date and mint mark.
The dates were entered by hand. In 1873 a new 3 was used because
the old one was the “closed 3” and was easily
mistaken for an 8.
In 1848 gold came from California to Philadelphia
to make medals for Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott.
Mint Director Patterson ordered that the coins from the excess
of this gold deposit be struck with the abbreviation CAL.
on the reverse above the eagle. Forgeries have been made by
privately punching CAL into regular 1848’s, and authentication
is strongly recommended. (All USRCI coins are authenticated
by one of the major grading services.)
Despite the fact that the coin was not custom
designed to mark the event, many numismatists consider the
1848 CAL. to be the United States’ first commemorative
coin. It commemorates the first shipment of gold from California
to the United States Mint, and one could argue that it is
a separate subtype within the quarter eagle series.
Mintages for the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle
range from a high of 1,404,668 in 1853 to a low of 246 the
next year in San Francisco. This low mintage took place because
of a shortage of the acids necessary to separate silver from
the gold ore. The meager supply of acid was used for the double
eagles of that year. Authentication is highly recommended
for any 1854-S coins. The same is true for any 1841 Philadelphia
coins, which have an unknown mintage.
