Alone among New Orleans Mint double eagles of the Type III Liberty Head design type, the 1879-O was produced upon the reopening of the New Orleans Mint after its forced closure at the onset of the Civil War. The reason for this mintage is unknown, as the primary purpose of the reopening of the New Orleans facility in 1879 was to aid in the production of Morgan silver dollars. The 1879-O double eagle may have been produced simply to mark the historic resumption of coinage in New Orleans, a theory that gains support when we consider than the mintage of this issue is a token 2,325 pieces ($46,500 face value).

Regardless of exactly why they were produced, many examples of the 1879-O were exported alongside other double eagles of the era as part of international transactions. Approximately 100 to 120 coins are extant, generally in EF or AU, and mostly thanks to repatriations from foreign bank hoards in recent decades. With such a limited number of examples known, the 1879-O is obviously a leading rarity in the Southern gold series. Doug Winter (Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909, 2006 edition) ranks this issue fourth in rarity among New Orleans Mint double eagles after the 1856-O, 1854-O and 1855-O, a ranking it shares with the 1859-O.