The 1804 13 Star quarter eagle was first identified as a distinct variety by Henry Chapman in the Earle sale of 1912. Chapman said little about the coin, though he did feature it on his photographic plates and deem it both “Fine” and “Rare.” Thomas Elder cataloged an 1804 quarter eagle as “13 Stars” in the superb 1908 J.B. Wilson sale, but he seems to have counted the stars on the obverse: the reverse of the coin in his plate has 14 stars. Variety collecting was in its infancy and gold coins did not have a following as fervent as large cents, colonials, and other more traditional American collecting areas. It took decades for early gold coins to get traction beyond date collecting or, more typically, type collecting. Even the classic 1957 Standard Catalogue of United States Coins did not list the 1804 13 Star, and it was not listed in the Guide Book until the 1960s. Once the variety became notable, even popular, collectors recognized its rarity. Eliasberg never owned one, nor did Garrett, David S. Wilson, Ten Eyck, Flanagan, J.F. Bell, Farouk, Miles, Lilly, Robison, or dozens more.

Ed Price, the noted student of early dimes and quarter eagles, corresponded with David Akers on the subject of the 1804 13 Star quarter eagle, and his research was reproduced in the cataloging of the Pittman specimen (now a PCGS AU-50 that realized $94,000 when it was last sold over a decade ago). Price noted that he had identified 28 quarter eagle collections that included more than half (8 out of 15) of the known early quarter eagle die marriages; only six included an 1804 13 Star! David Akers added, “the 13 Star Reverse variety of 1804 is extremely rare; in fact, I consider this to be the rarest quarter eagle, more rare than the legendary 1841 and 1854-S.” Akers surveyed 226 catalogs, spanning the 20th century and much of the 19th, and found only two offerings of this variety. The Bass-Dannreuther book posits a total population, in all grades, of just 12 to 14 pieces. None of those are in the National Numismatic Collection, built from the Mint Cabinet, the Lilly bequest, and private donations; the American Numismatic Society also lacks this variety, and the only one Harry Bass ever acquired is now on display at the American Numismatic Association.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part I Auction, where it realized $499,375.