Bill Jones' Coronet Quarter Eagles
1848

Owner Comments:

Despite the fact that the 1848 "plain" $2.50 gold is rarer than its much more famous sister the 1848 "CAL." $2.50, it sells a fraction of the price. Modern estimates place the surviving population of 1848 "plain" pieces at 100 out of mintage of 6,500 pieces. There are an estimated 162, 1848 "CAL." coins out a mintage of 1,389. That works out to a 1.5% survival rate for the "plain" and a 11.6% for "CAL." variety.

These numbers are perfectly consistent with other observations about pre-Civil War U.S. coins. Generally only about 1 to 2 percent of the original mintages survives unless there was some sort of hoarding or collector activity. Despite the fact that there were few active collectors in The United States when the 1848 "CAL." quarter eagle was issued, a larger than normal number of them were saved.

The 1848 quarter eagle shown above is a very attractive example of this very scarce coin. The surfaces have only trivial marks which are consistent with the AU-58 grade, and there is considerable luster on both sides of the coin.