Liberty Head Gold Eagle Mintage
The mintages for the Liberty Head Gold Eagle cover an extremely wide range, with some issues struck in the mere hundreds and other struck in quantities stretching into the millions. Several absolute rarities within the series make assembling a collection a monumental task. The series is divided into the periods 1838-1866 when no motto appears above the eagle on the reverse and 1866-1907 when the motto "In God We Trust" was added.
Production would take place at the Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Carson City and Denver Mints in various periods. The coins struck at Philadelphia do not carry a mint mark, while the branch mint coins have a mint mark located on the reverse of the coin, beneath the eagle.
The lowest mintage of this series occurs with the 1875 Liberty Gold Eagle, with just 100 circulation strikes and 20 proof coins minted. Low mintage issues come from every Mint except Denver, which only produced eagles in 1906 and 1907, in reasonable numbers. The lowest branch mint issues were produced in Carson City in 1879 (1,762), in New Orleans in 1883 (800) and San Francisco in 1864 (2,500).
As such a large denomination, Liberty Gold Eagles were meant to circulate, and the majority did just that, creating many condition rarities. This is especially the case for many of the later issues, which are usually considered to be “common”. However, in many cases, finding an attractive uncirculated example can be very difficult. The best example of this situation is the 1905-S Liberty Gold Eagle, which had a mintage of 369,250, but only has three coins graded above MS63.
Liberty Gold Eagle Mintages
| No Motto on Reverse | |
| 1838 | 7,200 |
| 1839 | 38,248 |
| 1840 | 47,338 |
| 1841 | 63,131 |
| 1841-O | 2,500 |
| 1842 | 81,507 |
| 1842-O | 27,400 |
| 1843 | 75,462 |
| 1843-O | 175,162 |
| 1844 | 6,361 |
| 1844-O | 118,700 |
| 1845 | 26,153 |
| 1845-O | 47,500 |
| 1846 | 20,095 |
| 1846-O | 81,780 |
| 1847 | 862,258 |
| 1847-O | 571,500 |
| 1848 | 145,484 |
| 1848-O | 35,850 |
| 1849 | 653,618 |
| 1849-O | 23,900 |
| 1850 | 291,451 |
| 1850-O | 57,500 |
| 1851 | 176,328 |
| 1851-O | 263,000 |
| 1852 | 263,106 |
| 1852-O | 18,000 |
| 1853 | 201,253 |
| 1853-O | 51,000 |
| 1854 | 54,250 |
| 1854-O | 52,500 |
| 1854-S | 123,826 |
| 1855 | 121,701 |
| 1855-O | 18,000 |
| 1855-S | 9,000 |
| 1856 | 60,490 |
| 1856-O | 14,500 |
| 1856-S | 68,000 |
| 1857 | 16,606 |
| 1857-O | 5,500 |
| 1857-S | 26,000 |
| 1858 | 2,521 |
| 1858-O | 20,000 |
| 1858-S | 11,800 |
| 1859 | 16,013 |
| 1859-O | 2,300 |
| 1859-S | 7,000 |
| 1860 | 15,055 |
| 1860-O | 11,100 |
| 1860-S | 5,000 |
| 1861 | 113,164 |
| 1861-S | 15,500 |
| 1862 | 10,960 |
| 1862-S | 12,500 |
| 1863 | 1,218 |
| 1863-S | 10,000 |
| 1864 | 3,530 |
| 1864-S | 2,500 |
| 1865 | 3,980 |
| 1865-S | 16,700 |
| 1866-S | 8,500 |
| Motto on Reverse | |
| 1866 | 3,750 |
| 1866-S | 11,500 |
| 1867 | 3,090 |
| 1867-S | 9,000 |
| 1868 | 10,630 |
| 1868-S | 13,500 |
| 1869 | 1,830 |
| 1869-S | 6,430 |
| 1870 | 3,990 |
| 1870-S | 8,000 |
| 1870-CC | 5,908 |
| 1871 | 1,790 |
| 1871-S | 16,500 |
| 1871-CC | 8,085 |
| 1872 | 1,620 |
| 1872-S | 17,300 |
| 1872-CC | 4,600 |
| 1873 | 800 |
| 1873-S | 12,000 |
| 1873-CC | 4,543 |
| 1874 | 53,140 |
| 1874-S | 10,000 |
| 1874-CC | 16,767 |
| 1875 | 100 |
| 1875-CC | 7,715 |
| 1876 | 657 |
| 1876-S | 5,000 |
| 1876-CC | 4,696 |
| 1877 | 797 |
| 1877-S | 17,000 |
| 1877-CC | 3,332 |
| 1878 | 73,780 |
| 1878-S | 26,100 |
| 1878-CC | 3,244 |
| 1879 | 384,740 |
| 1879-O | 1,500 |
| 1879-S | 224,000 |
| 1879-CC | 1,762 |
| 1880 | 1,644,840 |
| 1880-O | 9,200 |
| 1880-S | 506,250 |
| 1880-CC | 11,190 |
| 1881 | 3,877,220 |
| 1881-O | 8,350 |
| 1881-S | 970,000 |
| 1881-CC | 24,015 |
| 1882 | 2,324,440 |
| 1882-O | 10,820 |
| 1882-S | 132,000 |
| 1882-CC | 6,764 |
| 1883 | 208,700 |
| 1883-O | 800 |
| 1883-S | 38,000 |
| 1883-CC | 12,000 |
| 1884 | 76,860 |
| 1884-S | 124,250 |
| 1884-CC | 9,925 |
| 1885 | 253,462 |
| 1885-S | 228,000 |
| 1886 | 236,100 |
| 1886-S | 826,000 |
| 1887 | 53,600 |
| 1887-S | 817,000 |
| 1888 | 132,921 |
| 1888-O | 21,335 |
| 1888-S | 648,700 |
| 1889 | 4,440 |
| 1889-S | 425,400 |
| 1890 | 57,980 |
| 1890-CC | 17,500 |
| 1891 | 91,820 |
| 1891-CC | 103,732 |
| 1892 | 797,480 |
| 1892-O | 28,688 |
| 1892-S | 115,500 |
| 1892-CC | 40,000 |
| 1893 | 1,840,840 |
| 1893-O | 17,000 |
| 1893-S | 141,350 |
| 1893-CC | 14,000 |
| 1894 | 2,470,735 |
| 1894-O | 107,500 |
| 1894-S | 25,000 |
| 1895 | 567,770 |
| 1895-O | 98,000 |
| 1895-S | 49,000 |
| 1896 | 76,270 |
| 1896-S | 123,750 |
| 1897 | 1,000,090 |
| 1897-O | 42,500 |
| 1897-S | 234,750 |
| 1898 | 812,130 |
| 1898-S | 473,600 |
| 1899 | 1,262,219 |
| 1899-O | 37,047 |
| 1899-S | 841,000 |
| 1900 | 293,840 |
| 1900-S | 81,000 |
| 1901 | 1,718,740 |
| 1901-O | 72,041 |
| 1901-S | 2,812,750 |
| 1902 | 82,400 |
| 1902-S | 469,500 |
| 1903 | 125,830 |
| 1903-O | 112,771 |
| 1903-S | 538,000 |
| 1904 | 161,930 |
| 1904-O | 108,950 |
| 1905 | 200,992 |
| 1905-S | 369,250 |
| 1906 | 165,420 |
| 1906-D | 981,000 |
| 1906-O | 86,895 |
| 1906-S | 457,000 |
| 1907 | 1,203,899 |
| 1907-D | 1,030,000 |
| 1907-S | 210,500 |