A Star-struck Auction: Four NGC-certified Stellas Offered by Heritage
Posted on 4/14/2026
Four Stellas that are certified by NGC®, including one expected to sell for well over $1 million, are being offered to collectors in an upcoming Heritage Auctions sale. Bidding is already underway for the CSNS US Coins Signature Auction being held April 29 through May 2, 2026.
The four-dollar coins are patterns for proposed coinage, with their unusual denomination necessary to align them for use in international trade. As Congress considered the idea, a few hundred 1879 Flowing Hair examples were struck, along with a much more limited number of 1879 Coiled Hair, 1880 Flowing Hair and 1880 Coiled Hair examples.
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Leading the Stellas in this auction is an 1879 Coiled Hair $4 graded NGC PF 67 Cameo, which comes from a surviving population of a little more than a dozen coins. It is a newly documented example, according to the auction house, and is tied for the highest-known grade.
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Meanwhile, an 1880 Coiled Hair $4 graded NGC PF 62 comes from a similarly small population of known examples: around 10. Bidding is expected to go well into the six figures for the rare opportunity to acquire this coin.
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This sale also includes an 1880 Flowing Hair $4 with an Eliasberg pedigree graded NGC PF 65, as well as an 1879 Flowing Hair $4 graded NGC PF 65 Cameo, each of which are expected to realize six-figure prices.
“Very few US coins inspire the awe and fascination of the 1879 and 1880 Four Dollar Gold coins, otherwise known as ‘Stellas’,” former American Numismatic Association President Jeff Garrett wrote in 2025 for NGC Weekly Market Report. “The Stella has become one of the most popular US coins ever produced [and the] five-pointed star and the word Stella have become iconic symbols in numismatics.”
Other NGC-certified coins in this sale include:
- a 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter J-1989 Pattern graded NGC PF 61 (lot 3061)
- a 1776 Pewter ‘Curency’ Continental Dollar graded NGC MS 63 (lot 3002)
- an 1895 Morgan Dollar graded NGC PF 66 Cameo (lot 3129)
- an 1849 Mormon $5 graded NGC AU 53 (lot 3251)
- a 1910 Eagle graded NGC PF 66 (lot 3207)
- a US Assay Office 1852 887 $50 graded NGC AU 55 (lot 3250)
- a Panama-Pacific 1915-S $50 Octagonal graded NGC MS 65 (lot 3244)
- a 1799 Funeral Urn Medal graded NGC AU 55 (lot 3539)
