Seldom Seen Selections: 1842-O Small Date Seated Quarter

The following is a press release from Heritage

Among the many treasures in our October 27 offering of The Eugene H. Gardner Collection II in New York is the finest certified 1842-O Small Date quarter, graded MS63 by NGC. An important offering for the specialist, the 1842-O Small Date is an absolute rarity and a premier condition rarity. A large depression on the upper half of the shield and the eagle's neck is the result of foreign matter on the die, appearing on all late die state examples of this variety.

This MS63 example is the finest NGC has certified, with the next best at that service just AU55. PCGS shows a single Mint State coin graded MS61, ahead of one graded AU58.

The surfaces are lustrous and toned in layers of lilac, rose, gray, cobalt-blue, and gold. It is weakly struck in the centers, not a typical occurrence for Small Date quarters, but one that apparently is common to the late die state of the 1-A dies.

Briggs estimates that this late die state accounts for only 10% or so of the 1842-O Small Date population. This coin represents an opportunity to acquire the finest-known example of this extreme rarity an opportunity unlikely to repeat anytime in the near future.