1850-C

The 1850-C quarter eagle came out of Charlotte at a recorded mintage of 9,148 pieces, the lowest production figure the branch had posted on the denomination since the 1842-C. Charlotte's local gold supply was thinning by the start of the 1850s as the easier Carolina placer ground had been worked through, and the 1850 calendar year saw the smallest of three Coronet denominations the facility was striking simultaneously. Die work for the date is competent but shows the period's typical light flowlines on the central devices, and several reverse dies entered service with shallow polishing marks that persist on most known survivors. The pieces went straight into the southern commercial economy and saw steady wear through the pre-Civil War decade. Doug Winter places survival in the 90 to 130 range across all grades, with the population concentrated in Very Fine and lower About Uncirculated condition. Choice AU coins are scarce, and Mint State pieces are rare enough that any certified specimen is a documented event in the Charlotte census.

Authentication leads with the C mintmark, set below the eagle on the reverse and hand-punched into the working die at Philadelphia before shipment to Charlotte. A genuine 1850-C mintmark shows the documented serifed Charlotte C with sharp upper and lower terminals, a slight rightward tilt, and a crowned punch impression that thins outward with smooth metal flow. The recurring deception is an added C cut or soldered onto a Philadelphia 1850 quarter eagle host, and the parent issue's high mintage of 252,923 pieces makes that host plentiful. Tells of an added mintmark include flat punch tops where a struck C should crown, perimeter tooling or cut marks, solder seams visible under raking light, and a font shape that deviates from documented Charlotte punches of the period. Confirm the standard 4.18 grams in 0.900 fine gold at specific gravity near 17.2, with a reeded edge under coin alignment matching other Charlotte Coronet output. Granular field texture indicates a cast counterfeit rather than a struck Mint product.

The 1850-C holds a firm Key Date position within the Charlotte run and trades at strong premiums for problem-free certified examples. Specialist demand from southern-branch collectors keeps the small surviving population in steady competitive bidding. See the full Liberty Head Quarter Eagle series history.