This is one of the reasons why I have been curious about civil war era gold.


First one of these dates I have held personally. This was part of a large bullion hoard of old sovereigns held by a family. Sole coin from the USA.
It is extremely rare to find here USA coins from dates before the 1890 decade. I suppose they were not much exported. Or they were but were molten into sovereigns and other european coinage. Earliest one I had seen before was the 1878-S half eagle.
How would you grade it? I think that the die or dies for this year were weak. The punches could be worn? But I have not found many nice photos of others to compare.