1850 Liberty Seated Quarter. Briggs 1-A. Misplaced Date. MS-63 (PCGS). CAC.

1850 Liberty Seated Quarter. Briggs 1-A. Misplaced Date. MS-63 (PCGS). CAC.，This is a beautiful Choice 1850 Liberty Seated quarter, an elusive and conditionally challenging issue. Brilliant centers are framed in iridescent peripheral highlights of reddish-gold and cobalt blue. Boldly to sharply struck throughout with a very nice appearance for the assigned grade. The effects of the California Gold Rush on quarter production at the Philadelphia Mint were immediate and dramatic. As silver became scarce relative to the vast quantities of gold being mined on the West Coast, the bullion value of coins such as the quarter soon surpassed the face value. Little silver bullion reached the Philadelphia Mint for new coinage in 1850, as a result, and just 190,800 circulation strike quarters were produced as opposed to 340,000 examples in 1849. Many 1850 quarters were likely melted for their precious metal content, which when combined with the small mintage explains the scarcity of this issue in all but the lowest circulated grades. Mint State survivors such as this are rare and represent important bidding opportunities for specialists on the few occasions when an example appears at auction.<p>Briggs 1-A is one of the more dramatic Misplaced Date varieties in the Liberty Seated quarter series, a loupe revealing the base of an errant 1 over the rim below the left foot of the primary digit 1 in the date. In todays world of American numismatics the study and collecting of interesting die varieties is at an unprecedented high level of interest. For Liberty Seated coins the Liberty Seated Collectors Club provides a focal point for the exchange of information.<p>，From the A.J. Vanderbilt Collection. Earlier from our (Stacks) sale of the George C. Slawson Collection, April 1970, lot 637. Lot tag included.，