Mirroring the history of the 1854-O, the 1856-O was produced in extremely limited numbers because very little of the bullion mined in California at the time found its way to the New Orleans Mint for double eagle coinage. The San Francisco Mint had first dibs on this precious metal, not surprising given its proximity to the gold fields, while much of the bullion shipped east found its way to the Northeast and the Philadelphia Mint, as opposed to the Deep South and the New Orleans facility. At just 2,250 coins produced, the 1856-O is the lowest mintage double eagle from this Southern coinage facility, barely edging out the 1879-O for this honor. It is the second rarest O-mint twenty after the equally legendary 1854-O, although Doug Winter (2018) provides estimates of 30 to 40 coins extant for both issues.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in November 2019 as part of the Rarities Night Auction, where it realized $264,000.