Much has been written about the 1863 quarter eagle. The 1863 is one of the American coins that were exclusively issued in Proof format for collectors. Given the fact that even at the time, Proof gold coins were extraordinarily expensive, only the wealthiest collectors could afford to buy any of the gold denominations in Proof format. Given the fact that wealth was very scarce in the Civil War, one should not be surprised that often only a few dozen Proof gold coins were made of the 19th century dates. With a total mintage of 30 Proof pieces, and not a single business-strike for circulation, anyone can see that this is a legendary gold issue, coveted as such.

In the middle of the American Civil War, circulation coinage was very limited. Basically, the only items that were circulating as money were fraction currency notes, which was paper money in denominations of cents. These circulated heavily, especially after the Copper-Nickel cents first introduced in 1857 disappeared from circulation. Many were in bad condition, repaired and taped together, as they were the only low-value money that was issued by the government. Both companies and private people added to the mix with a wide assortment of nearly 10,000 different varieties of so-called Civil War Tokens, privately issued tokens, often issued as store cards. With no federal cents in circulation, those Tokens of the same size served the need for the smallest denomination in use at the time.

Traditionally, the gold coinage was usually only used for transactions between banks and with foreign countries. A dollar of worth back in the mid to late 19th century was worth much more for the average people, who spent most of their income on living expenses. As such, gold coins were not needed in average commerce, although there were some exceptions. As Mark Twain put it in his novel Roughing It:

""In the East, in those days, the smallest moneyed denomination was a penny, and it represented the smallest purchasable quantity of any commodity. West of Cincinnati the smallest coin in use was the silver five-cent piece and no smaller quantity of an article could be bought than five cents' worth. In Overland City the lowest coin appeared to be the ten-cent piece; but in Salt Lake there did not seem to be any money in circulation smaller than a quarter, or any smaller quantity purchasable of any commodity than twenty-five cents' worth.""

The above text, put down in the early 1860's when Samuel Clemens travelled to Nevada, gives one of the reasons why mintages for Civil War dated coins are often higher from the San Francisco Mint as they are from the Philadelphia Mint. In comparison, the San Francisco Mint struck only 8,000 business strike quarter eagles in 1863, but those circulated heavily within the western states were the influence of the Civil War was rather minimal. As such, it was obvious, with no coins in circulation that new quarter eagles were not needed from the Philadelphia Mint.

The number of survivors of the 1863 quarter eagle has been estimated to be between 15-20 examples, with 2 examples locked up in the Smithsonian Institution, and at least 5 to 8 examples cleaned or otherwise mistreated. As a result, supply is rather limited and this issue is seldom offered publicly at all in problem-free condition. Whatever the grade an 1863 quarter eagle is in, it is destined to be of the greatest rarity and importance, destined for the finest set and always an eye-catcher at auctions.