1859-S LIBERTY HEAD $10 AU55

WELL STRUCK WITH LUSTER STILL EVIDENT ON LIGHTLY WORN SURFACES. LESS THAN 60 BELIEVED TO EXIST TODAY IN ALL GRADES ONLY ONE MINT STATE COIN GRADED. TIED WITH TWO OTHER COINS FOR HIGHEST GRADED AT PCGS. An underrated rarity, the 1859-S is a coin that has simply not garnered much attention among numismatists. For starters, the challenging nature of the No Motto Liberty Eagle series has forced most gold collectors to focus on other, more readily obtainable series. Second, the San Francisco Mint is one of the forgotten coinage facilities in U.S. coinage history. We can only wonder how much more the 1859-S would be worth were the San Francisco Mint as popular as the New Orleans, Charlotte or Dahlonega facilities, to say nothing of the Carson City Mint. We do believe, however, that the 1859-S has tremendous growth potential should more collectors come to recognize the historical significance and rarity of early S-mint gold coinage. Produced to the extent of just 7,000 pieces, the 1859-S is a heavily circulated issue that suffered grievously during the early frontier era. The handful of survivors grade largely VF and EF, with a few pieces making it to AU and none having crossed the formidable Mint State barrier.