1857-O LIBERTY HEAD $20 AU58

WELL STUCK LUSTROUS SURFACES. VERY SCARCE IN HIGH GRADE. ONLY 4 COINS GRADED HIGHER AT PCGS. The 1857-O (30,000 pieces struck) boasts the highest mintage for a New Orleans Mint Double Eagle from the 1854-1857 era. While it is understandably easier to obtain than the 1854-O, 1855-O and 1856-O, the 1857-O is still a very elusive issue that is in the same general rarity class as the 1858-O. Only 175-200 coins are believed to have survived (per Doug Winter, 2006), and the extant population is spread out fairly evenly between the various VF, EF and AU grades. In Mint State, this issue is extremely rare and represented by only six-to-eight examples.