Heritage Auction today: 1854-O Liberty Head $20 Gold AU55 NGC sold for $348,000 w/bp
Goldbully
Posts: 18,034 ✭✭✭✭✭
That number is a lot lower than the PCGS Price Guide for what appears to be a nice example for a 55.
If I was the seller I wouldn't be happy.....what say you folks?
1854-O $20 AU55 NGC. Variety 1. The 1854-O Liberty double eagle claims a meager mintage of 3,250 pieces, the second-lowest production total of the series. The reason for the small mintage is easily explained by the opening of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, which drastically reduced the flow of gold deposits at the New Orleans facility. Before 1854, large amounts of gold dust and ore were deposited every year at the Southern mint, but the San Francisco facility was much more convenient to the great California gold fields, so deposits dwindled to a trickle once that location commenced coinage operations. As a result, the 1854-O is one of the rarest coins of any denomination ever struck at the New Orleans Mint.
Comments
350,000 a!
You could’ve had three bitcoins for that price if you ordered before this morning!
I say your photos are really funky looking.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
We need another set of pics
Um, they are Heritage photos.
‘54-Os and ‘56-Os are really, really hard to find nice and with a sticker.
Believe me.😉
How many NGC or PCGS examples have you seen sell for anywhere close to their PCGS price guide values? I did a quick check and didn't come up with much of anything. Even this PCGS/CAC example sold last year wasn't within $100,000 of the current PCGS price guide figure.
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-1B9CIZ/1854-o-liberty-head-double-eagle-winter-1-the-only-known-dies-ef-45-pcgs-cac
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
The riim chews don't help it and the video didn't show hardly any frost, unless the video didn't pick it up well which would not be unusual.
It brought about the same as its 2015 price of $340,750 and it failed to sell in 2016 with a $312,000 reserve.
A PCGS AU-53 sold for $336,000 in August 2025 and a PCGS AU-55 failed to bring a $600,000 reserve in May 2025. A PCGS XF-45 CAC brought $276,000 in April 2021.
This one sold between wholesale AU-50 and AU-55.
Overall it does not seem out of line with the current market. A few have been offered lately and they seemed to have peaked in price some time ago.
Have not looked at the rest of the auction to see if it indicates any new direction.
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
I agree with you, but the PCGS price guide(grades 40 -58) are much too high then.
How are they determined on these super rare coins?
That - the PCGS price guide being much too high - was the point I was trying to make. If I remember correctly, the guide is based largely on dealer asking prices rather than actual sale prices.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
The holder certainly didn’t help the coin.
It appears AU55 in any other holder-PCGS or CACG.
How much more would this one have sold for if it was in one of the other two slabs?
peacockcoins
I don’t know how much it would have sold for in a PCGS or CAC holder but it’s extremely unlikely it would have sold for less.