Gold dollar
United States | |
Value | 1 United States dollar |
---|---|
Mass | 1.672 g |
Diameter | For Type 1, 12.7 mm. For Types 2 and 3, 14.3 mm (For Type 1, .500 inch. For types 2 and 3, .563 in) |
Edge | Reeded |
Composition | 90% gold, 10% copper |
Gold | .04837 troy oz |
Years of minting | 1849 | –1889
Mint marks | C, D, O, S. Found immediately below the wreath on the reverse. Philadelphia Mint pieces lack mint mark. |
Obverse | |
Design | Liberty wearing a coronet. Type 1. |
Designer | James B. Longacre |
Design date | 1849 |
Design discontinued | 1854 |
Design | Liberty as an Indian princess. Type 2 (small head) |
Designer | James B. Longacre |
Design date | 1854 |
Design discontinued | 1856 |
Design | Type 3 (large head) |
Designer | James B. Longacre |
Design date | 1856 |
Design discontinued | 1889 |
Reverse | |
Design | Type 1 |
Designer | Peter Filatreu Cross |
Design date | 1849 |
Design discontinued | 1854 |
Design | Types 2 and 3 |
Designer | James B. Longacre |
Design date | 1854 |
Design discontinued | 1889 |
The gold dollar or gold one-dollar piece is a gold coin that was struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. The coin had three types over its lifetime, all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre. The Type 1 issue has the smallest diameter (0.5 inch =12.7mm) of any United States coin minted to date.
A gold dollar coin had been proposed several times in the 1830s and 1840s, but was not initially adopted. Congress was finally galvanized into action by the increased supply of bullion caused by the California gold rush, and in 1849 authorized a gold dollar. In its early years, silver coins were being hoarded or exported, and the gold dollar found a ready place in commerce. Silver again circulated after Congress in 1853 required that new coins of that metal be made lighter, and the gold dollar became a rarity in commerce even before federal coins vanished from circulation because of the economic disruption caused by the American Civil War.
Gold did not again circulate in most of the nation until 1879; once it did, the gold dollar did not regain its place. In its final years, it was struck in small numbers, causing speculation by hoarders. It was also in demand to be mounted in jewelry. The regular issue gold dollar was last struck in 1889; the following year, Congress ended the series.
Damaged common date gold dollars tend to be worth anywhere from melt value to about US$110 (as of 2017); common dates of higher circulated grades sell for about US$200 while rarer coins in high grades can be worth up to many thousands.
Background
In proposing his plan for a mint and a coinage system, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1791 proposed that the one-dollar denomination be struck both as a gold coin, and as one of silver, representative of the two metals which he proposed be made legal tender.[1] Congress followed Hamilton's recommendation only in part, authorizing a silver dollar, but no coin of that denomination in gold.[2]
In 1831, the first gold dollar was minted, at the private mint of Christopher Bechtler in North Carolina. Much of the gold then being produced in the United States came from the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia, and the dollars and other small gold coins issued by Bechtler circulated through that region, and were now and then seen further away. Additional one-dollar pieces were struck by August Bechtler, Christopher's son.[3][4]
Soon after the Bechtlers began to strike their private issues, Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury became an advocate of having the Mint of the United States ("Mint", when described as an institution) strike the one-dollar denomination in gold. He was opposed by the Mint Director, Robert M. Patterson. Woodbury persuaded President Andrew Jackson to have pattern coins struck. In response, Patterson had Mint Second Engraver Christian Gobrecht[a][3] break off work on the new design for the silver one-dollar coin and work on a pattern for the gold dollar. Gobrecht's design featured a Liberty cap surrounded by rays on one side, and a palm branch arranged in a circle with the denomination, date, and name of the country on the other.[3]
Consideration was given to including the gold dollar as an authorized denomination in the revisionary legislation that became the Mint Act of 1837. The Philadelphia newspaper Public Ledger, in December 1836, supported a gold dollar, stating that "the dollar is the smallest gold coin that would be convenient, and as it would be eminently so, neither silver nor paper should be allowed to take its place."[5] Nevertheless, after Mint Director Patterson appeared before a congressional committee, the provision authorizing the gold dollar was deleted from the bill.[6]
Inception
In January 1844, North Carolina Representative
Even before 1848, record amounts of gold were flowing to American mints to be struck into coin, but the
McKay got his fellow Democrat, New Hampshire Senator
Preparation
The officers at the Philadelphia Mint, including Chief Coiner Franklin Peale, were mostly the friends and relations of Director Patterson. The outsider in their midst was Chief Engraver[b] James B. Longacre,[12] successor to Gobrecht (who had died in 1844). A former copper-plate engraver, Longacre had been appointed through the political influence of South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun.[13]
When Longacre began work on the two new coins in early 1849, he had no one to assist him. Longacre wrote the following year that he had been warned by a Mint employee that one of the officers (undoubtedly Peale) planned to undermine the chief engraver's position by having the work of preparing designs and dies done outside Mint premises. Accordingly, when the gold coin bill became law, Longacre apprised Patterson that he was ready to begin work on the gold dollar. The Mint Director agreed, and after viewing a model of the head on the obverse, authorized Longacre to proceed with preparation of dies. According to Longacre,[14]
The engraving was unusually minute and required very close and incessant labor for several weeks. I made the original dies and hubs for making the working dies twice over, to secure their perfect adaptation to the coining machinery. I had a wish to execute this work single handed, that I might thus silently reply to those who had questioned my ability for the work. The result, I believe, was satisfactory.[14]
Original design
The Type 1 gold dollar depicts a head of
Contemporary reviews of the Type 1 design were generally favorable. The New York Weekly Tribune on May 19, 1849, described the new dollar as "undoubtedly the neatest, tiniest, lightest, coin in this country ... it is too delicate and beautiful to pay out for potatoes, and sauerkraut, and salt pork. Oberon might have paid Puck with it for bringing the blossom which bewitched Titania."[16] Willis' Bank Note List stated that "there is no probability of them ever getting into general circulation; they are altogether too small."[17] The North Carolina Standard hoped that they would be struck at the Charlotte Mint and circulated locally to eliminate the problem of small-denomination bank notes from out of state.[17] Coin dealer and numismatic author Q. David Bowers notes that the head of Liberty on the Type 1 dollar is a scaled-down version of that on the double eagle, and "a nicely preserved gold dollar is beautiful to behold".[18]
Modifications
Mint records indicate the first gold dollars were produced on May 7, 1849; Longacre's diary notes state instead that the first were struck on May 8. A few coins in
The continued flow of gold from California made silver expensive in terms of gold, and U.S. silver coins began to flow out of the country for melting in 1849, a flow that accelerated over the next several years as the price of the metal continued to rise. By 1853, a thousand dollars in silver coin contained $1,042 worth of bullion. As silver coins vanished, the gold dollar became the only federal coin in circulation between the
As early as 1851, New York Congressman
The Act of February 21, 1853, that had lightened the silver coins also authorized a gold three-dollar piece, which began to be produced in 1854. To ensure that the three-dollar piece was not mistaken for other gold coins, it had been made thinner and wider than it would normally be, and Longacre put a distinctive design with an Indian princess on it. Longacre adapted both the technique and the design for the gold dollar, which was made thinner, and thus wider. An adaptation of Longacre's princess for the larger gold coin was placed on the dollar, and a similar agricultural wreath on the reverse. The idea of making the gold dollar larger in this way had been suggested in Congress as early as 1852, and had been advocated by Pettit, but Guthrie's desire for an annular coin stalled the matter.[19][30] In May 1854, Snowden sent Guthrie a letter stating that the difficulties with an annular coin, especially in getting the coins to eject properly from the press, were more than trivial.[31]
Nevertheless, the Type 2 gold dollar (as it came to be known) proved unsatisfactory as the mints had difficulty in striking the new coin so that all details were brought out. This was due to the high relief of the design—the three Southern branch mints especially had trouble with the piece. Many of the Type 2 pieces quickly became illegible, and were sent back to Philadelphia for melting and recoinage.[32] On most surviving specimens, the "85" in the date is not fully detailed.[33] The Type 2 gold dollar was struck only at Philadelphia in 1854 and 1855, at the three Southern branch mints in the latter year, and at San Francisco in 1856, after the design was designated for replacement.[26][32] To correct the problems, Longacre enlarged the head of Liberty, making it a scaled-down version of the three-dollar piece, and moved the lettering on the obverse closer to the rim. This improved the metal flow and design sharpness so much that early numismatic scholars assumed the reverse was also altered, though in fact no change was made and the Type 2 and Type 3 reverses are identical.[31][33]
Design of Type 2 and 3 dollars
The Type 2 and 3 gold dollars depict Liberty as a Native American princess, with a fanciful feathered headdress not resembling any worn by any Indian tribe. This image is an inexact copy of the design Longacre had made for the three-dollar piece, and is one of a number of versions of Liberty that Longacre created based on the Venus Accroupie or Crouching Venus, a sculpture then on display in a Philadelphia museum. For the reverse, Longacre adapted the "agricultural wreath" he had created for the reverse of the three-dollar piece, composed of cotton, corn, tobacco, and wheat, blending the produce of North and South. This wreath would appear, later in the 1850s, on the Flying Eagle cent.[32][34]
Art historian
War years
The gold dollar continued to be produced in the late 1850s, though mintages declined from the figures of two million or more each year between 1850 and 1854. Only about 51,000 gold dollars were produced in 1860, with over two-thirds of that figure at Philadelphia, just under a third at San Francisco, and 1,566 at Dahlonega.[35] Roughly a hundred are known of the last, creating one of the great rarities from Dahlonega in the series.[36]
The other candidate for the rarest from that mint is the 1861-D, with an estimated mintage of 1,000 and perhaps 45 to 60 known.[37] Two pairs of dies were shipped from Philadelphia to Dahlonega on December 10, 1860; they arrived on January 7, 1861, two weeks before Georgia voted to secede from the Union, as the American Civil War began.[38] Under orders from Governor Joseph E. Brown, state militia secured the mint, and at some point, small quantities of dollars and half eagles were produced. Records of how many coins were struck and when have not survived. Since dies crack in time, and all the mints were supplied with them from Philadelphia, coining could not last, and in May 1861, coins and supplies remaining at Dahlonega were turned over to the treasury of the Confederate States of America, which Georgia had by then joined. Gold coins with a total face value of $6 were put aside for assay. Normally, they would have been sent to Philadelphia to await the following year's meeting of the United States Assay Commission, when they would be available for testing. Instead, these were sent to the initial Confederate capital of Montgomery, Alabama, though what was done with them there, and their ultimate fate, are unknown. The rarity of the 1861-D dollar, and the association with the Confederacy, make it especially prized.[39]
Dahlonega, like the other two branch mints in the South, closed its doors after the 1861 strikings. It and the Charlotte facility never reopened; the New Orleans Mint again struck coins from 1879 to 1909,[40] but did not strike gold dollars again. After 1861, the only issuance of gold dollars outside Philadelphia was at San Francisco, in 1870.[41]
The outbreak of the Civil War shook public confidence in the Union, and citizens began hoarding specie, gold and silver coins. In late December 1861, banks and then the federal Treasury stopped paying out gold at face value. By mid-1862, all federal coins, even the base metal cent, had vanished from commerce in much of the country. The exception was the Far West, where for the most part, only gold and silver were acceptable currencies, and paper money traded at a discount. In the rest of the nation, gold and silver coins could be purchased from banks, exchange agents, and from the Treasury for a premium in the new greenbacks the government began to issue to fill the gap in commerce and finance the war.[42]
Final years, abolition, and collecting
Since gold did not circulate in the United States (except on the West Coast) in the
In the 1870s and 1880s, public interest grew in the low-mintage gold dollar. Collecting coins was becoming more popular, and a number of numismatists put aside some gold dollars and hoped for increases in value. The Mint most likely channeled its production through some favored Philadelphia dealers, though proof coins could be purchased for $1.25 at the cashier's window at the Philadelphia facility. Banks charged a premium for circulation strikes. They were popular in the jewelry trade, mounted into various items. The coins were often exported to China or Japan, where such jewelry was made. The dollars were often damaged in the process; the Mint refused to sell into this trade and did its best to hinder it. Nevertheless, Mint officials concluded that jewelers were successful at getting the majority of each issue. Proof mintages exceeded 1,000 by 1884, and remained above that mark for the remainder of the series, numbers likely inflated by agents of jewelers, willing to pay the Mint's premium of $0.25 per coin.[46] Another use for the gold dollar was as a holiday gift; after its abolition the quarter eagle became a popular present.[47]
James Pollock, in his final report as Mint Director in 1873, advocated limiting striking of gold dollars to depositors who specifically requested it. "The gold dollar is not a convenient coin, on account of its small size, and it suffers more proportionately from abrasion than larger coins."[48] His successors called for its abolition, with James P. Kimball, before he left office in 1889, writing to Congress that except as jewelry, "little practical use has been found for this coin".[49] Later that year, the new director, Edward O. Leech, issued a report stating that the gold dollar "is too small for circulation, and ... [is] used almost exclusively for the purposes of ornament.[49] The last year in which the gold dollar was struck was 1889.[41] Congress abolished the gold dollar, along with the three-cent nickel and three-dollar piece, by the Act of September 26, 1890.[50]
A total of 19,499,337 gold dollars were coined, of which 18,223,438 were struck at Philadelphia, 1,004,000 at New Orleans, 109,138 at Charlotte, 90,232 at San Francisco and 72,529 at
Mintage figures
Year | Philadelphia Mint | Charlotte Mint | Dahlonega Mint | New Orleans Mint | San Francisco Mint |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1849 | 688,567 | 11,634 | 21,588 | 215,000 | |
1850 | 481,953 | 6,966 | 8,382 | 14,000 | |
1851 | 3,317,671 | 41,267 | 9,882 | 290,000 | |
1852 | 2,045,351 | 9,434 | 6,360 | 140,000 | |
1853 | 24,076,051 | 11,515 | 6,583 | 290,000 | |
1854 | 855,502 | 2,935 | 14,632 |
Year | Philadelphia Mint | Charlotte Mint | Dahlonega Mint | New Orleans Mint | San Francisco Mint | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1854 | 783,943 | Type 2 (Small Head) | ||||
1855 | 758,269 | 9,803 | 1,811 | 55,000 | Type 2 (Small Head) | |
1856 | 1,762,936 | 1,460 | 24,600 | All are Type 3 (Large Head) except San Francisco (1856-S), which is Type 2 (Small Head) | ||
1857 | 774,789 | 13,280 | 3,533 | 10,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | |
1858 | 117,995 | 3,477 | 10,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||
1859 | 168,244 | 5,235 | 4,952 | 15,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | |
1860 | 36,514 | 1,566 | 13,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||
1861 | 527,150 | Estimated 1,250 | Type 3 (Large Head) | |||
1862 | 1,361,355 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1863 | 6,200 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1864 | 5,900 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1865 | 3,700 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1866 | 7,100 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1867 | 5,200 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1868 | 10,500 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1869 | 5,900 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1870 | 6,300 | 3,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | |||
1871 | 3,900 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1872 | 3,500 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1873 | 125,100 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1874 | 198,800 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1875 | 400 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1876 | 3,200 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1877 | 3,900 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1878 | 3,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1879 | 3,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1880 | 1,600 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1881 | 7,620 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1882 | 5,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1883 | 10,800 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1884 | 5,230 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1885 | 11,156 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1886 | 5,000 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1887 | 7,500 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1888 | 15,501 | Type 3 (Large Head) | ||||
1889 | 28,950 | Type 3 (Large Head) |
Year | Mintage | Notes |
---|---|---|
1849 | 10 | Type 1 (Liberty Head) |
1850 | 2 | Type 1 (Liberty Head) |
1854 | 5 | Type 2 (Indian Princess, Small Head) |
1855 | 12 | Type 2 (Indian Princess, Small Head) |
1856 | 10 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1857 | 12 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1858 | 20 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1859 | 80 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1860 | 154 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1861 | 349 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1862 | 35 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1863 | 50 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1864 | 50 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1865 | 25 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1866 | 30 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1867 | 50 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1868 | 25 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1869 | 25 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1870 | 35 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1871 | 30 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1872 | 30 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1873 | 25 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1874 | 20 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1875 | 20 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1876 | 45 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1877 | 20 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1878 | 20 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1879 | 30 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1880 | 36 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1881 | 87 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1882 | 125 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1883 | 207 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1884 | 1,006 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1885 | 1,105 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1886 | 1,016 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1887 | 1,043 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1888 | 1,079 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
1889 | 1,779 | Type 3 (Indian Princess, Large Head) |
Note: All gold dollar proof coins were minted at the Philadelphia Mint.
Gold Sacagawea dollar
In 1999, the
The coins were publicly displayed for the first time at the American Numismatic Association's World's Fair of Money in 2007. Afterwards they were returned to Fort Knox.[61]
Commemorative gold dollars
The gold dollar had a brief resurrection during the period of
Notes
- ^ Later chief engraver. See Taxay, p. 204. The incumbent chief engraver, William Kneass, had been partially incapacitated by a stroke in 1835, though he retained his office. See Taxay, pp. 170–171, 176
- ^ Formally, "Engraver to the United States Mint at Philadelphia"; he had no full-time assistant engravers then. The office came to be known as "Chief Engraver" later. See Bowers 2004, p. 25
- ^ As was Longacre, before he became chief engraver
References
- ^ Taxay, p. 50.
- ^ Taxay, p. 66.
- ^ a b c Bowers 2011, p. 1.
- ^ Yeoman, pp. 377–378.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 200–201.
- ^ Taxay, p. 200.
- ^ Taxay, p. 201.
- ^ Bowers 2001, p. 77.
- ^ a b Taxay, p. 203.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 3.
- ^ a b Taxay, p. 204.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 205–206.
- ^ Bowers 2006, p. 56.
- ^ a b Taxay, p. 206.
- ^ Bowers 2004, p. 25.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 4–5.
- ^ a b Bowers 2011, p. 5.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. viii.
- ^ a b Breen, p. 476.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 4.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 62–75.
- ^ Yeoman, pp. 427–428.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 63–64.
- ^ Snow, p. 223.
- ^ Yeoman, p. 240.
- ^ a b Yeoman, p. 241.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 6.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 209–210.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 210–211.
- ^ a b Taxay, p. 211.
- ^ a b c Breen, p. 479.
- ^ a b Bowers 2011, p. 7.
- ^ a b Vermeule, p. 55.
- ^ Yeoman, pp. 241–242.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 170.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 176.
- ^ Breen, p. 482.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 13, 177.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 12–14.
- ^ a b c Yeoman, p. 242.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 227, 231.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 7–9, 214, 222.
- ^ Bowers 2001, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 8, 21.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 25.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 221.
- ^ a b Bowers 2011, p. 9.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 387–389.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 10.
- ^ Bowers 2011, p. 26.
- ^ Bowers 2011, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Yeoman, pp. 240–242.
- ^ "Liberty Gold Dollar Mintages". Guide to U.S. Liberty Gold Dollars. My Coin Guides. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
- ^ "Indian Princess Gold Dollar Mintages". Guide to U.S Indian Princess Gold Dollars. My Coin Guides. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
- ^ "Gold Dollar". PCGS. Collectors Universe, Inc. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
- ^ "2000-W Gold Proof Sacagawea Dollar". www.smalldollars.com. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
- ^ Gilkes, Paul (March 8, 2010). "Special 2000–W Sacagawea Dollars Travel on Space Shuttle". Coin World: 122.
- ^ "US Mint to show unseen gold space coins | collectSPACE". collectSPACE.com. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
- ^ "United States Mint Displays Never–Before–Seen Gold Space Coins in Milwaukee | U.S. Mint". www.usmint.gov. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-943161-88-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-1784-8.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-3241-4.
- Bowers, Q. David (2006). A Guide Book of Shield and Liberty Head Nickels. Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing. ISBN 0-7948-1921-4.
- Breen, Walter (1988). Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-14207-6.
- Snow, Richard (2009). A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents. Atlanta. GA: Whitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7948-2831-8.
- Taxay, Don (1983). The U.S. Mint and Coinage (reprint of 1966 ed.). New York: Sanford J. Durst Numismatic Publications. ISBN 978-0-915262-68-7.
- ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-4180-5.