1845-O

The 1845-O quarter eagle is the lowest-mintage New Orleans issue of the entire Coronet Liberty series, with just 4,000 pieces struck during a year when the branch facility was concentrating most of its gold capacity on larger denominations. The O mintmark sits below the eagle on the reverse, in the same general position used at the Charlotte and Dahlonega branches, and was punched into working dies at Philadelphia before the dies traveled south by river and rail to the Mississippi delta facility. Production likely occurred in a single short delivery rather than across multiple pressings spaced through the year, which accounts for the relatively consistent die state visible on most genuine survivors. New Orleans planchet preparation in the mid-1840s was generally cleaner than the contemporaneous southern Appalachian branches, and the 1845-O typically shows fewer of the granular surface issues that mark Charlotte and Dahlonega strikings.

Authentication centers on the O mintmark, which is the small detail that separates this true rarity from common Philadelphia issues of the same year. The genuine New Orleans O is a small punched circle with consistent stroke width all the way around and a centered position relative to the eagle's tail above and the fraction below. Counterfeit operators have repeatedly attempted to add O mintmarks to host Philadelphia 1845 coins, given the dramatic value differential between the two issues, and the giveaways follow standard added-mintmark diagnostics: tooling disturbance in the surrounding field, an O that lacks the punched-in profile of a genuine Mint application, incorrect positioning relative to nearby devices, or stroke-width inconsistency around the circle. Beyond the mintmark, the planchet must weigh 4.18 grams at 18 millimeters with a fully reeded edge and test to specific gravity near 17.2 on the 90-percent gold alloy.

Survivor estimates run perhaps 75 to 110 pieces across all grades, with most falling in VF or low EF and About Uncirculated examples genuinely scarce. Mint State coins are among the rarest in the entire New Orleans quarter eagle run, with PCGS and NGC populations combined showing only a tiny handful certified above MS-60. Auction results for problem-free EF and AU examples regularly cross five figures, and the rare certified MS coin is a major-event purchase. See the full Liberty Head Quarter Eagle series history.