By William T. Gibbs
COIN WORLD Staff

It has a classic design, even a classic name, and just 10 to 14 coins are needed for a complete set, making it ideal for collectors with a decent collecting budget who desire a bit of a challenge. And yet it's not a series that immediately pops into mind when collectors gather to talk about U.S. gold coins.

This classic series is the Classic Head $2.50 quarter eagle, struck for six years only, from 1834 through 1839. It filled the gap between the Capped Head quarter eagle series of 1821 to 1834 and the long-lived Coronet series of 1840 to 1907.

The introduction of the Classic Head quarter eagle in 1834 represented a revolution of sorts. From 1796, when the $2.50 denomination was introduced, to 1834, quarter eagle production was sporadic (none were struck from 1809 to 1820, and there were other, shorter gaps in production) and mintages low (from a "high'" of 6,812 pieces in 1807 to a low of 427 in 1797). Most of the gold coins struck prior to August 1834 were immediately exported, for they were undervalued, with their bullion content worth more than face value. The Act of June 28, 1834, lowered the weight of gold coins and reduced the composition from 91.67 percent gold to 89.92 percent gold. Because of the new law, gold deposits soared, as did mintages.

While just 4,000 1834 Capped Head quarter eagles were struck from January to July under the old standards, 113,370 1834 Classic Head quarter eagles of the new standard were struck. Compare that to a total of 64,262 quarter eagles struck from 1797 to 1834 under the old standard. Combined production in Philadelphia in 1834, 1835 and 1836 totals more than 10 times the 1797 to 1834 production total.

The new quarter eagles went into circulation and remained there, unlike the earlier coins, which rarely circulated. That's why so many of the Classic Head quarter eagles are so affordable, even as a series, in circulated grades. Mint State examples, however, are much rarer due to the heavy circulation patterns.

The Classic Head design by William Kneass is a close copy of John Reich's Classic Head design used on the half cent (introduced in 1809) and cent (1808). The reverse is a modification the design used with the Capped Head design (though lacking the E PLURIBUS UNUM).

It was struck at four Mints: Philadelphia, Charlotte, Dahlonega and New Orleans. The C, D and O Mint marks appear above the date on the obverse. Branch Mint coins are much rarer than the Philadelphia Mint coins.