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1843-O Liberty Seated Quarter Dollar - Large O Reverse
by Greg Johnson
The January 2013 Heritage FUN auction was particularly unusual, and interesting for Liberty Seated Quarter variety collectors, because it featured not one, but two, high grade 1843-O Large O quarters. The finest known 1843-O Large O, which appeared in the recently concluded FUN auction, is the Eliasberg example (now in an NGC MS64 holder). It is not merely the only known mint state example of the variety; it is amongst the finest known 1843-O quarters of either the large or the small O variety. Its 1843-O small O competitors atop the condition census are a single NGC MS65, one other NGC MS64, and a lone PCGS MS64.
NGC MS64 Heritage Auction 1181 Lot 5594 1/10/2013 NGC Cert#656662-003 Eliasberg
Though the majority of 1843-O Large O quarters
grade Fine or less, there are several AU examples in addition to the single
MS specimen. The four finest known examples are a PCGS AU53, NGC AU55, NGC AU58
and the mint state Eliasberg coin. All four of these examples have been auctioned
by Heritage since early 2003, with two of them sold just this month. Auction
appearances are summarized in the following list, along with two recent auction
appearances of XF examples:
March 3, 2003 ANACS AU53 $3,105 (now NGC AU55)
November 29, 2006 NGC AU58 $6,325
September 18, 2008 PCGS XF40 $3,018.75
January 4, 2012 PCGS AU53 $8,050
February 2, 2012 PCGS XF45/CAC $7,475
January 9, 2013 PCGS AU53 $7,637.50 (Same coin as 1/4/12)
January 10, 2013 NGC MS64 $25,850 (ex-Eliasberg)
The Eliasberg coin (Figure 1) was graded MS-65, raw, and sold for $14,300 in
1997 (Bowers 4/1997:1434).
Diagnostic features of the 1843-O Large O variety have been detailed in Larry
Briggs’ Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Liberty Seated Quarters (1991 Lima,
OH), Issue 111 of the Gobrecht Journal, and the December 2011 e-Gobrecht.