Louisiana Purchase
$10 1854-O Large Date

Owner Comments:

The 1854-O Large Date used a date punch intended for Silver Dollars. The date is very large, so Doug Winter suggests it ought to really be called a HUGE Date, to which I say absolutely because I love the weird date. Reminds me of the 1854 Double Eagle from Philadelphia. The Large Date variety is rarer overall than the small date (8th of 21), but interestingly, much lower on the list in High Grade (AU and above: 14 of 21) due to a number being found in the Jackson Tennesse hoard in the early 1980s (an interesting story here). It is still rare in properly graded uncirculated.

The Louisiana Purchase has two uncirculated examples (see Jefferson's Purchase for the other one, and NGC MS60 which the #6 coin in Doug's census listing). This one is an NGC MS61 from the Ambleside Collection (PCGS 1/1 NGC 16/1) It has a pretty serious die crack between the "1" and the "8" in the date, which makes it Variety Three in the Winter book. I don't believe this one is listed in his census as the census has no NGC MS61.

This coin has signicant frosty luster, especially in the protected areas and is yellow-gold in color.