A trio of early gold $2.50 quarter eagles at Heritage’s May 3 Platinum Night session showcased what some might call coins with character.

Graded Very Good 8 by Professional Coin Grading Service, a 1797 Capped Bust quarter eagle that was distinguished by a massive cud — the result of a broken die — sold for $25,200. It is one of the most massive cuds of any coin of the era, and while most examples of the BD-1 die pair show a retained cud, where the die had cracked but not yet broken, this one is the sole example with the cud over the right area, obscuring half of the Y in LIBERTY and four stars. Heritage adds, “As expected, the huge cud causes a featureless right reverse border, since metal from the planchet filled the broken obverse die during the strike.”

The firm praised the problem-free, golden-brown surfaces.

It certainly is a coin with a story to tell.

Two 1808 gold $2.50s

The session also provided a rare opportunity for collectors to pick from two 1808 Capped Draped Bust $2.50 quarter eagles, a one-year type, of which perhaps 150 survive from an original mintage of 2,710, all struck from the Bass-Dannreuther 1 die pair. Both represented the BD Die State b, which shows a die crack through the right-hand stars on the obverse.

The first offered was graded PCGS Genuine, Damage, Extremely Fine Details. While it enjoyed relatively full design details, including a bold portrait and eagle, it is bent at the lower obverse and has some rim dings and gouges on the upper reverse. Bidders were not turned off by the issues, responding to the rich gold surfaces, as it brought $38,400.

The next lot was the same issue, carrying a higher details grade of About Uncirculated, but with Genuine, Repaired noted on the PCGS holder insert. It sold for less, realizing $28,800.

This one was praised as “evenly struck and well-detailed, showing weakness only on some peripheral stars and dentils,” though “short pinscratches are seen in the obverse fields, along with faint evidence of tooling and an enthusiastic polishing,” resulting in brightly reflective, unnatural surfaces that prevent a numeric grade. Its price more than doubled the $14,100 it realized at Heritage in a February 2017 sale, showing growing demand from type collectors for this always-expensive, one-year type.

The denomination would not be struck again until 1821, when it would carry the new Capped Head design.

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