The three dates from the 18th century ( 1796 Stars, 1797, and 1798) are quite rare while the five dates from the early 19th century are somewhat more available. RARITY LEVEL: 5 Capped Bust Right With Stars Quarter Eagle, 1796-1807įor most collectors, this is the oldest type of quarter eagle which they will include in their set. You are going to have a very tough time with this type, even if you are a well-connected, wealthy collector, so my best advice is that if you ever see the right coin and the price isn’t stupid, go for it. Many surviving No Stars quarter eagles are damaged (avoid these!!) and problem-free collector-grade pieces are exceptionally hard to locate. This is one of the really tough US gold types and just 963 were struck. RARITY LEVEL: 1 Capped Bust Right No Stars Obverse Quarter Eagle, 1796ġ796 $2.50 NO STARS OBVERSE, COURTESY OF PCGS COINFACTS I’d suggest a rarer date from the 1870s in MS65 or MS66 as a more interesting alternative. Most collectors choose a common date from the 1880s to represent this type. This type is also very common and even super-high-grade coins (MS67 and MS68) are available and not terrifically expensive. RARITY LEVEL: 2 Type Three Gold Dollar, 1856-1889 Most collectors will choose either an 1854 or an 1855 but why not consider an MS63 or MS64 1855-O or 1856-S if either of these comes available? The short-lived Type Two is by far the rarest of the three gold dollars in this set but it is more available in MS64 and MS65 grades than it was a generation or two ago. RARITY LEVEL: 1 Type Two Gold Dollar, 1854-1856 An interesting alternative might be a high-grade (MS 63 or MS64) 1851-C or 1852-C, the most obtainable branch mint issues of this type. I’d suggest an 1849 as the ideal date as it is a first-year issue and it tends to come well made. For most collectors, a nice MS65 will suffice. This is a very common type that can be easily located in grades up to MS66. All images courtesy Douglas Winter Numismatics unless otherwise noted Level 5: The rarest of all US gold typesġ849 OPEN WREATH $1.00 PCGS MS65 CAC.

Level 4: Rare in all grades and very rare in higher grades.

Level 3: A tough issue overall and a very scarce to rare one in higher grades.

Level 2: Easy to locate in lower grades, somewhat tough in Gem and higher.Level 1: Easy to locate in nearly any grade.As there are many very expensive types in this set, I would recommend a basic eight-coin type set for collectors with a more limited budget.Īt the end of each type, I have rated the coins in regards to availability. Please note that the collecting tips below are oriented towards medium to large budgets. In this follow-up, I’m going to discuss each type in more detail with suggestions on how and what to buy and some “alternative” dates to spice up a type set. In my article on collecting US gold by type, I touched on these. US Gold Coins by Doug Winter – ……īetween 17, a total of 36 major US gold coin types were issued for circulation.

Collectors gold coins