Demand for proof U.S. gold coins remained minimal in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War as people in both the North and South struggled to rebuild their lives and come to terms with the horrific financial and, in many cases, personal cost of that titanic struggle. Sensing this limited demand, the Philadelphia Mint kept yearly mintages low throughout the Reconstruction era, the delivery of Liberty quarter eagles in 1867 amounting to a mere 50 pieces. Even so, many coins went unsold, and today there are no more than 15 examples of this issue available for today's advanced numismatic buyers (this estimate on the number of coins known is per Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth, 2008).

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the August 2013 Chicago ANA Auction, where it sold for $99,875.