| The first $2.50 Liberty gold coin was authorized by a Congressional act on April 2, 1872. After several design changes throughout history, Christian Golbrecht designed the $2.50 Liberty Head, or quarter eagle, in 1840.The Liberty Head design is by far the longest lasting design in U.S. history. For 68 years Americans saw their money with the classic Liberty Head design. This design was introduce by Christian Gobrecht, Weighing 4.18 grams and containing .12094 ounces of pure gold, this classic piece of American art and history was produced by the Philadelphia, Charlotte, Dahlonega, New Orleans and San Francisco mints.In 1848, about 230 ounces of gold were sent to Secretary of war Macy by Colonel R.B. Mason, military governor of California. The $2.50 Liberty coins that were produced from this gold have a distinguishing mark of “CAL.” on the reverse. Several specimens with “Prooflike” surfaces are known.
A modified reverse design appeared in 1859, with smaller letters and arrowheads, coming from Philadelphia. From 1859 – 1861 both large and small variety’s were produced. In 1877 ,18 years later, the small variety had hit San Francisco. Twenty four of these dates and mint marks have mintages of 5000 or less, with the rarest date by mintage being. |
