1863

The 1863 eagle stands among the legendary Philadelphia keys of the entire Liberty Head series, struck in a vanishingly small business-strike emission of just 1,248 pieces. That figure places it below the 1858 (2,521) and second only to the 1875 in absolute Philadelphia rarity across the 1838-1907 run. Doug Winter ranks it as the second-rarest Civil War eagle after the 1864-S, with roughly 30 to 40 business strikes traced today. Wartime gold hoarding, suspended specie payments, and a public preference for greenbacks pushed Philadelphia's gold output to near-collapse, leaving the 1863 a date that simply was not made for circulation in any meaningful way.

Authentication is paramount because the genuine population is so thin and the date so famous. Genuine examples weigh 16.718 grams in 90% gold and measure 27 mm; specific gravity falls near 17.2, and any deviation in mass or hydrostatic reading is a red flag. The greatest counterfeit risk is a date alteration from a common Philadelphia issue such as the 1853, 1862, or 1873, so examine the third and fourth digits under high magnification for tooled metal flow, mismatched font weight, or recut serifs. The standard 1863 die marriage shows characteristically soft strike on the higher hair curls and shield, with lustrous fields when present. Most survivors grade Fine to Extremely Fine; About Uncirculated examples number perhaps eight to nine, and only two are documented in Mint State. PCGS- or NGC-encapsulated examples with CAC review are the prudent baseline at this rarity tier.

At auction the 1863 commands strong six-figure money in the upper grades. The PCGS MS63 Bass-Heck Dodson coin brought $104,500 at Mid American in 1991 and has been off the market ever since; a PCGS AU55 ex-Bass realized $23,000 at Bowers & Merena in October 1999, and an NGC AU58 made $28,750 at Heritage in January 2005, with subsequent appearances trending well higher. For the Liberty Head specialist this is a marquee date, completing the Philadelphia "big three" alongside the 1858 and 1875, and any honestly graded example - even in well-circulated condition - is a centerpiece. Read more about the broader Liberty Head Eagle series history.