1857-O 25C N1 Certification #50792108, PCGS #5443

Ron Guth

The 1857-O Quarter Dollars has the third largest mintage of any Seated Liberty Quarter from the New Orleans Mint and it is one of only three O-Mint Seated Liberty Quarter Dollars with mintages over one million coins.  However, because this was from a remote mint, the number of survivors is not as large as it would have been if the coins had been produced at the Philadelphia Mint.  Thus, when compared with the 1859, which has a mintage similar to that of the 1857-O, we find that the population of Mint State 1859s is larger than that of the 1857-O by a considerable margin.  On the other hand, the 1857-O seems to be more scarce than some of the dates with much smaller mintages, such as the 1859-O and the 1860-O. 

Most 1857-O Quarter Dollars are fairly well struck, though the denticles are sometimes weak from 6:00 to 7:30 on the obverse, almost as if the dies were slightly out of parallel.  Sometimes, the eagles right leg (viewer's left) is weak, as is the uppermost fletch. 

Mint State examples are decidedly scarce, they are most often found in MS63 or MS64, and none have been certified above MS64 by PCGS.