1888

The 1888 eagle marks a quiet inflection point in the With Motto series: it is the year the New Orleans Mint resumed eagle production after a four-year absence, restoring a two-mint cadence that had lapsed since 1884. The Philadelphia issue itself is a workhorse strike of 132,996 pieces, modest by the standards of the 1880s but enough to keep the date readily available in lower circulated grades. What sets 1888-P apart is not the mintage figure but how those coins were treated after striking. Most entered commerce or shipped abroad in bags, and survivors arrived in collector hands well used, which is why the date reads as common in VF-XF and surprisingly stubborn the moment you climb into Mint State.

Doug Winter has long described the 1888-P as scarce and undervalued in Uncirculated, and the certified populations bear that out: Mint State examples exist in workable numbers at MS61 and MS62 but thin out quickly above that, with MS63 coins genuinely uncommon and Gem material rare. Strike is generally decent for the period, though many pieces show softness on the high points of Liberty's hair behind the ear and on the eagle's neck feathers. Authentication for a Regular-class issue is mostly a matter of weight and metallurgy: a genuine eagle weighs 16.718 grams in 90% gold, and any piece that runs noticeably light, shows seams along the rim, or has a suspiciously sharp Philadelphia-style strike paired with grainy fields deserves a closer look. Original surfaces with honest orange-gold to greenish-gold patina are far more desirable than the bright, dipped examples that dominate the bullion-grade market.

For the date collector, 1888-P is a low-cost entry point in low circulated grades and an opportunistic buy in MS62-MS63, where price guides have not fully caught up to the certified scarcity. The natural companion is the 1888-O, the resumption issue from New Orleans, and assembling the pair gives a tidy snapshot of post-Reconstruction gold logistics. For a fuller view of how the With Motto type fits across forty years of production, see the Liberty Head Eagle series history.