Owner Comments:
The 1808 quarter eagle is one of the premier type coins in the United States series. It is a one year type coin with a mintage of only 2,710 pieces. John Dannreuther and Harry Bass, Jr. in their book Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties estimated that that are 125 to 150 survivors in all grades. These survivors include a number of coins that have been polished or used for jewelry thus making them unavailable for problem free certification grading.
This coin was one of the early projects for assistant mint engraver, John Reich, who was appointed to that post in 1807. The obverse and reverse designs match those that Reich executed earlier for the half dollar and half eagle. Banks and businesses that deposited gold for coinage at the first U.S. mint much preferred the half eagle or five dollar gold piece to the quarter eagle. The face value of the quarter eagle was too high for daily use by most people, and was less convenient for businesses that preferred to use the half eagle for their larger transactions. A lack of orders would prompt the mint not to issue any more quarter eagles until 1821.
John Reich secretly “signed” many of his dies by placing a small notch on the 13th star on the obverse. True to form Reich notched the outer most arm on the last star on this coin die as well. Only one die variety is known of this rare coin.
The coin above shows circulation marks that are consistent with the AU-50 grade, but it has stronger design detail and fewer major defects that many coins that have assigned this grade. Mint luster is evident on both sides, especially the reverse.