1883-O Liberty Eagle: Only 800 Struck at New Orleans
Coin Encyclopedia · 9 min read · Published November 7, 2026
Eight hundred. That is the whole mintage of the 1883-O Liberty eagle — eight hundred $10 gold coins struck at New Orleans in 1883, and one of the great rarities of American gold. The coin is not a first year, and it is not a last year. It is simply a year when New Orleans barely struck eagles at all, and the result is a coin that most collectors will never hold, and most dealers will never see. If you think you have one, read this whole page before you do anything else.
This page is about that number. The 1883-O is a Liberty eagle designed by Christian Gobrecht, carrying the motto IN GOD WE TRUST and the denomination spelled out as TEN DOLLARS, and struck in a mintage so small that genuine examples are extremely scarce in every grade. Our guide has not yet researched grade-by-grade figures for this date, so the table below is empty. The history is not.
Eight hundred coins, and why
The New Orleans Mint of 1883 was a silver mint that occasionally struck gold. The nation's gold coinage was concentrated at Philadelphia and San Francisco, where the metal was, and New Orleans struck gold only in small numbers, when the deposits arrived and the demand was there. In 1883, that meant 800 eagles — a striking so small that it barely registers against the hundreds of thousands struck at Philadelphia in the same year.
That is the whole explanation, and it is also the whole appeal. The 1883-O was not a special issue, and it was not struck for collectors. It was a working mint striking the coin it was asked for, in the numbers the gold allowed, in a year when almost no gold arrived. The coins went into commerce in the South, wore down there, and were melted in later years. The survivors are the coins that were saved by accident — tucked away, forgotten, and found decades later.
For scale, the Philadelphia Mint struck the same design in the hundreds of thousands in 1883, and a common 1883 Philadelphia eagle is an ordinary gold coin. The 1883-O is the same coin, the same design, the same gold — only the mint mark and the mintage differ, and that difference is everything. Eight hundred against hundreds of thousands. That is the coin.
The grade table, still to be researched
The table below is our researched collector estimates from the live guide, reviewed November 5, 2026. Grades our guide has not researched yet are shown as “—”, not guessed. For this date, that is every grade. No grade-by-grade figures are catalogued yet, so the table below is a statement of what we do not yet know, not a set of numbers to lean on.
| Grade | Estimated value |
|---|---|
| Good (G-4) | — |
| Fine (F-12) | — |
| Extremely Fine (XF-40) | — |
| About Uncirculated (AU-50) | — |
| Mint State 60 (MS-60) | — |
| Mint State 65 (MS-65) | — |
An empty table on a coin struck in 800 can feel wrong, and it is worth saying why it is there. The grade table is built from researched figures, and the research has not reached this date yet. That does not make the coin common, and it does not make it cheap. It makes it unresearched, and the honest figure for it comes from the coin in hand, graded by a professional, and from the live feed on this page when newly reported results land. No one should quote you a figure for an 1883-O from a guide alone — and no one should quote you a figure for one at all without certification.
The O, and the fakes it attracts
A coin struck in 800 attracts counterfeits, and the 1883-O is no exception. The fake is simple: take a common 1883 Philadelphia eagle, add an O, and an ordinary gold coin becomes a great rarity. Here is how to catch it.
First, weigh it. A genuine eagle weighs 16.718 grams and measures 27 millimetres across — a cast copy feels light and often shows tiny bubbles or seams under magnification. Second, look at the O itself under a loupe against a known genuine example: a real O sits in the correct position, below the eagle, with the right shape and depth. An added O sits too high, too shallow, or at the wrong angle, and the metal around it often shows tool marks. Third, check the design: Gobrecht's Liberty has crisp hair and a clean coronet, the eagle's feathers are sharp, and the TEN DOLLARS spelling is clean and even. A cast copy looks soft, with mushy details.
Then stop, and send it to PCGS or NGC. On a coin struck in 800, a professional opinion is not a luxury. It is the only way the market will accept the coin at all. An uncertified 1883-O, however genuine it looks, will be treated with suspicion by every serious buyer. Certification is also the only way to establish the grade, and on a coin this scarce, the grade is everything.
Specs and the metal floor
The 1883-O eagle weighs 16.718 grams and measures 27 millimetres across, struck in 90% gold and 10% copper. It holds 0.48375 troy ounces of pure gold — the same specification as every Liberty eagle from 1838 to 1907. If you have handled any $10 gold coin, the 1883-O feels identical in the hand: solid, broad, and unmistakably gold.
Metal floor: — The live melt figure on this site is calculated only for the $1 gold dollar, whose specification the Worker carries. Larger gold — $2.50, $5, $10 and $20 — has no live melt specification yet, so this page shows “—” for the metal floor rather than a computed figure. The weight above is the honest check: a genuine coin matches it, and a light coin is not genuine.
That weight is also the first authentication check. A genuine eagle is 16.718 grams, and a counterfeit in base metal will be far too light. A gold-plated copy will be close in weight but soft in detail, with mushy feathers and a dull, lifeless surface. Weigh the coin first, before anything else. If it is not 16.718 grams, the conversation is over.
A New Orleans rarity in context
The 1883-O is not the only scarce New Orleans eagle, but it is the scarcest of its decade, and it sits in a run of small New Orleans gold mintages that collectors chase as a group. The 1879-O double eagle was struck in 2,325. The 1909-O half eagle was struck in 34,200, in the mint's final year. The 1883-O eagle, at 800, is smaller than both — and it is the coin that makes a New Orleans gold collection hard to finish.
That is the demand. New Orleans collectors need it. Eagle collectors need it. Rarity collectors need it. And every one of them is chasing the same 800 coins, struck in a year when almost no gold arrived. The result is a coin that trades rarely, through established channels, with certification, at figures that reflect its scarcity. If someone offers you an 1883-O at a fraction of what a rarity should command, it is not a bargain. It is a fake, or a different coin, or a story that will not survive five minutes with a grader.
Latest reported results for this coin
Checking for newly reported results…
Your 1883-O eagle questions, answered
What is an 1883-O Liberty eagle worth?
Our guide has not yet researched grade-by-grade figures for this date, so the grade table below shows — for every grade. With only 800 struck, it is one of the great rarities of New Orleans gold in any grade, and a professional grade is the only reliable way to value one.
Why were only 800 struck?
By 1883 the New Orleans Mint struck gold only in small numbers. The nation's gold coinage was concentrated at Philadelphia and San Francisco, and New Orleans struck the $10 only when the deposits and the demand were there — in 1883, that meant 800 coins.
How many 1883-O eagles survive?
Our catalog records the mintage of 800 but no survivor figure, so none is stated here. Genuine examples are extremely scarce in any grade, and high-grade examples are among the rarest New Orleans coins of all.
Where is the mint mark on an 1883-O eagle?
The O is on the reverse, below the eagle, between the tail feathers and the denomination. On a coin this scarce, the mint mark's position and style must be compared against a known genuine example under a loupe.
How do I check an 1883-O eagle?
Weigh it at 16.718 grams and measure 27 millimetres, then examine the O and the design under a loupe. On a coin struck in 800, certification from PCGS or NGC is not optional — it is the only way the market will accept it.
Check your 1883-O
An 1883-O is eight hundred coins, and one of the great New Orleans rarities. Weigh it, find the O, and let a grader settle the rest. Run the date and mint mark through the free Coin Value Checker for an instant estimate, or get a Grade-or-Not verdict on whether your coin is worth certifying. The full gold guide is here: Gold Dollar Coin Values by Type and Date.
For learning only: this guide is educational, and the figures here are researched estimates, not a promise of what any single coin will bring. An 1883-O should be authenticated and graded by professionals before any decision is made.
This guide is for education — learn the coin first, and get a professional opinion before buying or selling.