1862

A reported mintage of roughly 10,995 business strikes makes the 1862 eagle one of the most thinly produced regular-issue Philadelphia tens of the No Motto era, a near-tenfold collapse from the 1861 figure and a direct reflection of the second-year Civil War economy. By the spring of 1862 the specie hoarding that had begun with Fort Sumter was entrenched: federal gold had moved into private holdings, into the vaults of suspended New York banks, and into shipments bound for Europe to settle war-driven trade balances. The Mint's incentive to coin eagles for a circulation that no longer existed was correspondingly thin, and the production figure shows it.

Doug Winter places total known survivors at roughly 125 to 150 pieces across all grades, ranking the 1862 as the second most available Civil War Philadelphia eagle but well ahead of the genuinely rare 1863 through 1865 issues. Most survivors grade Very Fine through low About Uncirculated, frequently with the abraded surfaces and slightly subdued luster Winter cites as typical; properly graded AU58 coins number perhaps five to seven, and Mint State pieces are limited to roughly four. The standout is an NGC MS64 recovered from the S.S. Republic shipwreck, which realized $41,975 at Bowers and Merena in April 2005. Authentication centers on weight and originality: expect 16.718 grams of 90 percent gold and 10 percent copper, a 27 mm diameter, reeded edge, and a specific gravity near 17.2. Cast counterfeits of low-mintage No Motto eagles tend to betray themselves through soft hair detail at the coronet, granular field texture, and weight that runs a tenth of a gram or more light.

The 1862 rewards patience more than it rewards luck. VF and EF examples surface often enough that a determined collector can locate one without years of waiting, but the quality tier is narrow, strictly original surfaces, particularly those with European or overseas provenance, command meaningful premiums over scuffed or cleaned coins at the same numerical grade. AU58 with honest color is a serious challenge, and any piece grading MS60 or finer is a five-figure conversation. For full design history and date-by-date context, see the Liberty Head Eagle series history.