1853-O

The 1853-O is the thirteenth-year New Orleans eagle and slots into the middle of the No Motto availability picture, sitting just behind the 1847-O and 1851-O as the third most accessible O-Mint Type 1 ten dollar a collector will encounter. Recorded mintage came to 51,000 pieces, a moderate branch-mint delivery that fell well short of 1851-O's 263,000-piece run but comfortably exceeded the 18,000 struck the prior year. PCGS CoinFacts estimates roughly 200 to 400 survivors across all grades, with most coins clustering in VF and EF. Inside Doug Winter's hierarchy, the date earns a clear semi-key designation: easy enough to locate in worn grades to anchor a No Motto NO set, but excessively rare in Uncirculated, where Winter accounts for only two or so properly graded Mint State examples.

Authentic 1853-O eagles weigh 16.718 grams in 90% gold at 27 mm, with specific gravity near 17.2 and a deeply punched O mintmark below the eagle on the reverse. Strike is typical New Orleans Type 1, with softness expected on the eagle's neck feathers and the upper hair curls, surfaces are below average even by NO standards, and most survivors carry deep field abrasions, impaired luster, and occasional mint-made planchet chips that Winter has flagged as characteristic of the issue. Choice surfaces are extremely difficult to locate at any grade. Original coins show green-gold to orange-gold toning over moderately reflective fields. Mintmark seating, punch depth, and the field-to-relief transition warrant magnification on uncertified examples; added-mintmark fakes built on Philadelphia 1853 hosts circulate.

For tier-aware collectors, the 1853-O is the third pillar of an early-NO set alongside the 1847-O and 1851-O, a date that delivers genuine New Orleans No Motto rarity at attainable circulated-grade pricing, then walls off sharply above AU58. The finest known is a PCGS MS63 from the Bill Crawford collection that brought $28,600 at Stack's in May 1991, and a Bass-collection NGC SP61 special striking realized $316,250 at Heritage in 2010, well outside the regular-strike market but a useful marker for the date's high-end ceiling. Buy for original surfaces and unmolested fields; reject cleaned, lightened, or heavily abraded examples regardless of holder grade. For broader context on Type 1 branch-mint production, see the Liberty Head Eagle series history.