1881 $2.50 Liberty Head NGC PR-66+

A mere 640 mint state and 51 proof $2.5 gold quarter eagles were struck in 1881. Many of the mint state pieces were placed in circulation, making uncirculated examples extremely rare. In fact, NGC has only graded about 17 mint state pieces thus far. While the proofs are rarer in an overall sense, they do tend to come in higher grades than the MS pieces.