1861-O LIBERTY HEAD $20 AU58

VERY CHOICE LUSTROUS SURFACES. JUST THE SLIGHTEST AMOUNT OF WEAR EVIDENT. ONLY A SINGLE MS60 COIN GRADED HIGHER AT PCGS. One of the most historially significant issues in the entire Liberty Double Eagle series, the 1861-O is the final Twenty-Dollar gold piece struck in the New Orleans Mint prior to 1879. As such, it is the last Type I Double Eagle with an O mintmark. This issue is indelibly linked with the opening phases of the U.S. Civil War, a fact that further enhances the desirability of surviving examples among both Southern gold specialists and more general collectors. The official mintage figure for the 1861-O Double Eagle is 17,741 pieces, a total that was achieved under the auspicies of three different governing authorities. According to traditional numismatic wisdom, the first 5,000 examples struck from January 1-26, 1861 were produced at the request of the United States government. Louisiana seceded from the Union on the latter date, and the 9,750 pieces struck from then through the end of March were delivered under orders from the now-independent state government. The final batch of 2,991 coins was produced after Louisiana joined the Southern Confederacy. Numismatic researchers have spilled much ink in an effort to identify diagnostics by which collectors and investors can determine whether a particular 1861-O Double Eagle was struck by the United States, the State of Louisiana or the Confederate Statesof America. Unfortunately, there is still no conclusive way to match an example to one of the three aforementioned striking periods, although Doug Winter ( Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909 , 2006) offers a theory by which one can at least determine if the coin in question was struck under Confederate authority. According to the author, the New Orleans Mint used two obverse dies for this delivery, and those coins that display a strong date and a die crack (as struck) from the rim outside star 2 nearly to Liberty's chin were struck by the Southern Confederacy. As an issue, the 1861-O Double Eagle has an extant population of fewer than 200 coins. Most survivors grade VF or EF, and there are only two-to-four Mint State examples known. The '61-O is the sixth-rarest New Orleans Mint Double Eagle, and it is more challenging to obtain than such other deliveries as the 1857-O and 1858-O.