1721

1855 $1 Gold Indian PCGS MS62

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
1855 $1 Gold Indian PCGS MS62
The mostly honey-gold surfaces display modest, yet pleasing luster effects as the coin turns under the light. This 1855 issue is difficult to find fully struck. This coin lacks detail to the hair, the date and portions of the denomination from a somewhat mushy strike.

In 1854 the Gold Dollar was modified, the diameter was increased from 13 millimeters to 14.86 mm, and the motif was changed from the Coronet or Liberty Head style (as introduced in 1849 and used on the $1 and $20 denominations) to the Indian Princess motif. Miss Liberty appears as a native American, possibly from the south of what is now the United States, wearing a plumed headdress. Related themes were used on several other United States coinage dies cut by Longacre, such as the later Type III Gold Dollar (1856-1889) and quite a few Patterns. Among Patterns, which extended up to and including the Silver Dollar, this style of diadem was part of a complete figure of Miss Liberty, head to toe, seated on a globe. The mint soon discovered that the Type II Gold Dollar was wrong for coinage purposes, as the relief on the obverse was simply too high. Metal flowed into the deep hollows of the die at that point, causing the area of the reverse die opposite in the press, particularly the central two digits (85), to only partially strike up, typically ranging from almost invisible to weak. As a result, the design was varied in 1856 to the Type III motif -- shallower and permitting sharper images.

Type II Gold Dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1854 and 1855, at Dahlonega in 1855 only, in Charlotte in 1855 only, and in San Francisco in 1856 only. All are desirable for their distinctive Type. (#7532)