$2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagles overview
The $2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagle is one of the longest-running gold coin series in American numismatic history, struck by the United States Mint from 1840 through 1907. Composed of .900 fine gold and weighing 4.18 grams (approximately 0.121 troy oz of pure gold), these coins carry a face value of two and a half dollars…
Updated June 2026
$2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagles
The $2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagle is one of the longest-running gold coin series in American numismatic history, struck by the United States Mint from 1840 through 1907. Composed of .900 fine gold and weighing 4.18 grams (approximately 0.121 troy oz of pure gold), these coins carry a face value of two and a half dollars and represent the smallest gold denomination regularly issued during the 19th century. The obverse features a Coronet Liberty head design — refined by Christian Gobrecht and later by James B. Longacre — while the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with shield, arrows, and olive branch. Within pre-1933 US gold coinage, the Liberty Quarter Eagle occupies a distinctive niche. The series spans multiple decades of American economic and political history, with coins produced at the Philadelphia, New Orleans, Charlotte, Dahlonega, and San Francisco Mints. Branch-mint issues — particularly those from Charlotte (C) and Dahlonega (D) — are notably scarcer and command strong collector interest. The series offers a wide range of dates and mintmarks, from relatively common Philadelphia issues to low-mintage key dates, making it accessible to type collectors and advanced specialists alike. Grades range from circulated examples (VF, EF, AU) to full Mint State survivors. On CoinDuffle, buyers will find $2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagles from multiple vetted dealers, spanning a broad range of dates, mintmarks, and grades. Inventory typically includes circulated type coins suitable for date sets or type collections, as well as higher-grade Mint State examples for more advanced cabinets. Both raw and professionally graded (PCGS, NGC) coins appear across listings.
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About $2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagles
The $2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagle is one of the longest-running gold coin series in American numismatic history, struck by the United States Mint from 1840 through 1907. Composed of .900 fine gold and weighing 4.18 grams (approximately 0.121 troy oz of pure gold), these coins carry a face value of two and a half dollars and represent the smallest gold denomination regularly issued during the 19th century. The obverse features a Coronet Liberty head design — refined by Christian Gobrecht and later by James B. Longacre — while the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with shield, arrows, and olive branch.
Within pre-1933 US gold coinage, the Liberty Quarter Eagle occupies a distinctive niche. The series spans multiple decades of American economic and political history, with coins produced at the Philadelphia, New Orleans, Charlotte, Dahlonega, and San Francisco Mints. Branch-mint issues — particularly those from Charlotte (C) and Dahlonega (D) — are notably scarcer and command strong collector interest. The series offers a wide range of dates and mintmarks, from relatively common Philadelphia issues to low-mintage key dates, making it accessible to type collectors and advanced specialists alike. Grades range from circulated examples (VF, EF, AU) to full Mint State survivors.
On CoinDuffle, buyers will find $2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagles from multiple vetted dealers, spanning a broad range of dates, mintmarks, and grades. Inventory typically includes circulated type coins suitable for date sets or type collections, as well as higher-grade Mint State examples for more advanced cabinets. Both raw and professionally graded (PCGS, NGC) coins appear across listings.
Frequently asked questions
A $2.5 Liberty Quarter Eagle is a US gold coin struck from 1840 to 1907 with a face value of two and a half dollars. It contains .900 fine gold at a total weight of 4.18 grams (roughly 0.121 troy oz of pure gold). The obverse features a Coronet Liberty head, and the reverse displays a heraldic eagle. It is the smallest gold denomination regularly produced throughout the 19th century.
Liberty Quarter Eagles were produced at five US Mint facilities: Philadelphia (no mintmark), New Orleans (O), Charlotte (C), Dahlonega (D), and San Francisco (S). Charlotte and Dahlonega issues are particularly prized by collectors due to their lower mintages and the fact that both branch mints closed at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, giving their coins a distinct regional and historical character.
Because these coins circulated widely during the 19th century, the most commonly encountered examples grade in the VF-20 to AU-58 range. Fully uncirculated (Mint State) survivors exist but become progressively scarcer at higher grade levels. Collectors building type sets often target attractive circulated examples, while specialists seek out MS-62 and above for key dates and branch-mint issues.
Both share the same denomination and gold composition, but they represent distinct design eras and artistic styles. The Liberty Quarter Eagle features a Coronet portrait and was produced from 1840–1907. The Indian Quarter Eagle, designed by Bela Lyon Pratt and struck from 1908–1929, uses an incuse (sunken-relief) design unique in US coinage. The two series rarely overlap in collector focus and belong to separate categories within pre-1933 US gold.
Philadelphia Mint issues from the 1840s through the 1880s are the most frequently encountered, as those years had relatively higher mintages and steady circulation survival rates. Later Philadelphia dates from the 1890s and early 1900s also appear with regularity. Branch-mint issues from New Orleans and San Francisco are less common, while Charlotte and Dahlonega coins are the scarcest and most sought-after across all date ranges in the series.