Heritage Auctions heads into its April 29-May 2, 2026, CSNS U.S. Coins Signature® Auction with a lineup that reaches straight into the top tier of American numismatics. The sale brings together all four gold stella issues from The Presidio Collection, Part II, a fresh-to-market 1933 Indian Eagle, and a deep group of registry-level coins from The Pizza Collection. Heritage also returns as the official auctioneer for the Central States convention.
That matters because stellas still command instant attention whenever they appear. The U.S. Mint struck them in 1879 and 1880 as pattern coins, not for circulation. Yet collectors have long treated them as part of the mainstream U.S. series. More importantly, the denomination grew out of an effort to create an international trade gold coin that aligned more closely with major European pieces of the era.
The Presidio Collection Brings the Full Stella Set
Todd Imhof, Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President, says The Presidio Collection has anchored the Platinum Session with foundational rarities. He also describes the four-stella grouping as a powerful cross-section of one of the most coveted areas in all of U.S. gold coinage. That assessment fits the material. Very few auctions can place all four stella varieties in one sale.
The headliner of the group is the 1880 Coiled Hair Stella, Judd-1660, Pollock-1860, JD-1, Low R.7, PR62 NGC. Heritage calls it the rarest of the four stella designs. The firm lists 10 known examples, including one in the Smithsonian. Heritage’s catalog also notes that the issue originally appeared in three-coin sets with a goloid dollar and a metric dollar.
The same collection also carries an 1880 Flowing Hair Stella, Judd-1657, Pollock-1857, JD-1, R.6, PR65 NGC. CAC. Heritage traces just 18 examples. It also identifies this coin as tied for the finest among CAC-approved survivors. Better still, the pedigree runs through the fabled Eliasberg Collection.
Next comes an 1879 Coiled Hair Stella, Judd-1638, Pollock-1838, JD-1, R.6, PR67 Cameo NGC. Heritage traces 14 examples. PCGS CoinFacts places the surviving population at 12 to 15, while John Dannreuther estimates 12 to 14. Heritage adds another important detail: the consignor bought this coin privately, and the firm found no record of any prior auction appearance.
The quartet closes with the most available stella by comparison, the 1879 Flowing Hair Stella, Judd-1635, Pollock-1833, JD-1, R.3, PR65 Cameo NGC. Even so, “available” only works in relative terms here. Heritage’s catalog makes the point clearly. The 1879 Flowing Hair is the easiest of the four to locate, but it still sits far outside the realm of anything common.
A Final-Year 1933 Indian Eagle Adds Real Firepower
The Presidio group does not stop with stellas. It also delivers a 1933 Indian Eagle, MS65 PCGS. CAC, one of the great melt rarities in 20th-century U.S. gold. Heritage cites a PCGS CoinFacts survival estimate of 30 to 40 pieces, while Q. David Bowers places the figure at 45 to 60. Heritage says it has traced only 24 examples. The coin first surfaced in the holdings of Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr., later passed through the Floyd Starr and John Kutasi collections, and has not appeared publicly since 2008.
The Pizza Collection Targets Registry Collectors
Another featured cabinet in Heritage Auctions gives this sale a very different kind of personality. The Pizza Collection spans 108 lots and takes its nickname from its consignor, a former pizzeria owner who focused on Standing Liberty quarters and Morgan dollars because of their scarce issues and the collecting challenge they present.
Its Morgan dollar star is the 1893-S Morgan Dollar, MS63 PCGS. The San Francisco issue carries a business-strike mintage of just 100,000 pieces, the lowest in the series, and Heritage rightly frames it as the key to Morgan dollar collecting. The firm also notes that demand for silver dollars remained weak in 1893, which helps explain why the issue drew little attention in early auction records and numismatic writing. Today, that indifference has turned into one of the series’ fiercest prizes. This example ranks as a select Mint State survivor, and PCGS reports 10 coins in MS63 with only 10 finer.
Standing Liberty quarter specialists also get serious ammunition here. The 1927-S Quarter, MS65+ Full Head PCGS. CAC has not crossed Heritage’s block in nearly 20 years, and the market has not seen it at public auction in 16 years. Heritage says only eight Full Head 1927-S quarters have been publicly documented in MS65 or finer. It adds that the finest is an MS66+ Full Head PCGS coin that has never appeared at auction. The offered piece ranks fourth, stands alone as the only MS65 Full Head with a Plus designation, and ranks finer than the only other CAC-endorsed MS65 Full Head example in the Condition Census.
The collection also includes one of the most elusive Standing Liberty patterns: the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter, Judd-1989, Pollock-2050, R.8, PR61 NGC. Heritage says pattern Standing Liberty quarters reside only in the Smithsonian and in the highest private collections. This Judd-1989 piece surfaced in 2018 inside an old-time holding, where it had masqueraded as a regular 1916 quarter. Heritage now describes it as one of just two Judd-1989 examples, while the other privately held Standing Liberty patterns remain tightly off the market.
Then there is the overdate. The 1918/7-S Quarter FS-101 MS64 Full Head PCGS ranks, in Heritage’s words, as the top key in the Standing Liberty series in terms of absolute scarcity. The offered coin shares the second-highest Full Head grade with six other MS64 pieces. Heritage also reports no prior auction appearance for this example. That scarcity still matters because many top registry sets still lack any Full Head 1918/7-S at all.
The final Pizza Collection showstopper is the 1919-D Quarter MS67 Full Head PCGS, which Heritage calls the finest known. The 1919-D already ranks among the tougher Full Head dates. In MS66 and finer Full Head, Heritage confirms only eight examples. Several have appeared at auction in the last decade, but this MS67 coin remains the finest and last appeared at auction in 2012.
More Elite Rarities Round Out the Sale
The auction’s depth extends well beyond its named collections. One standout is the 1841 Liberty Quarter Eagle MS61 PCGS, which Heritage presents as the finest-certified business-strike example. Heritage cites John Dannreuther’s survival estimate of 14 to 18 pieces in all grades, while PCGS CoinFacts estimates 12 to 13 business strikes and four proofs. PCGS and NGC have certified 18 examples combined, although that total likely includes resubmissions and crossovers. The Smithsonian Institution and the Connecticut State Library hold three institutional examples.
Another major gold rarity enters the sale in the form of an 1866 Liberty Half Eagle, PR66 Cameo PCGS. Only 30 proofs were struck. Heritage traces 11 survivors. It also cites PCGS CoinFacts at 15 to 20 surviving pieces and Dannreuther at 10 to 12, with room for a few more because of uncertain earlier ownership chains. Between them, PCGS and NGC have certified 16 examples, and the Smithsonian plus the American Numismatic Society hold two institutional coins.
Collectors who chase dramatic mint blunders will watch the 1860-O Half Dollar — Indented by Half Dime Planchet, Mated Pair — MS63 PCGS. Heritage calls it the “55-cent piece” from the “Weird Vertical Stripes” variety. The error occurred when a half dime planchet and a half dollar planchet entered the press together. The half dime sat between the reverse die and the half dollar planchet, which left the larger coin indented and created a matched pair. Heritage notes that the two pieces have stayed together since 1860, the year Abraham Lincoln won election and the Pony Express began service.
The sale also offers a landmark Peace dollar trial: the 1922 Modified High Relief Peace Dollar Production Trial, Judd-2020, MS65 PCGS. CAC, Subtype 2-A. Heritage links the issue directly to contemporary Mint correspondence from the redesign period. The defining feature is the handwritten “3200” in the left obverse field, which marks the last coin struck from the modified-relief dies before they failed. Heritage documents six survivors from those dies: two proofs and four business-strike examples, including two circulated pieces. Of those six, this coin ranks as the finest non-proof survivor and the only one with the “3200” inscription.
Other notable lots include an 1854 Kellogg Twenty Dollar Copper Die Trial MS64 Brown PCGS. K-1, an additional 1879 Flowing Hair Stella, Judd-1635, Pollock-1833, JD-1, R.3, PR65 PCGS. CAC, an 1854 Three Dollar Gold JD-1, Low R.7, PR62 PCGS, and a 1926-S Quarter MS66+ Full Head PCGS. CAC. Collectors can review images and full lot data at HA.com/1393.
Great example of a Rare Error!
WOW! All four Stella’s in the same auction. Wish I had an extra $500,000 in my bank account