Sale 46: The Broadus R. Littlejohn, Jr. Collection

Lot 1228

1861-O $20 Liberty. PCGS graded EF-45. Bag marks at 5:00 & 7:00 on obverse & somewhat weak date at bottom of numerals

The 1861-O Liberty twenty was issued on the brink of the Civil War. Actually, the mintage of 17,741 pieces was issued under three different authorities:

1. Some 5,000 pieces were coined under the auspices of the United States government between January 1 and January 26, 1861.

2. The State of Louisiana minted 9,750 coins between January 26 and March 31, 1861.

3. The Confederacy issued 2,991 examples between April 1 and April 30, 1861.

Examples exist with strong and weak dates, and Winter believes the strong dates may be the coins issued by the Confederacy.

The 1861-O is a scarce issue with an estimated surviving population of 135-165 pieces in all grades. Most examples seen are in the VF-XF range. The surfaces retain much attractive mint luster. Mintage 17,741 (PCGS Pop. 27 in EF-45, only 43 graded higher with the highest graded being two MS-60 examples. A total of 105 specimens in all grades, 11/2/11).
Estimate $15,000 - 20,000.

Realized: $29,000