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[L#0963] 1854 T2 G$1 PCGS MS63

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:7,800.00 USD Estimated At:13,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
[L#0963] 1854 T2 G$1 PCGS MS63
Well struck with smooth, velvety luster and rich orange-gold shades. The dies left their rigid impression behind without the least weakness or imprecision in the hair above the brow, the feathery ornamentation of the headdress, nor in the intricate detail of the "wreath of cereals" now occupying center stage on the reverse after the designer modified it in mid-1854. Scarce Type 2 gold dollar; needed for a 12-piece gold type set, this along with the $3 is often the sticker in completing such a set.

The Indian small head gold dollar -- second of three circulating U.S. gold coins of this denomination -- was short-lived. Fabrication of the coin, designed by Chief Mint Engraver James Barton Longacre, was carried out over just three calendar years: 1854, 1855 and 1856. The mintage for circulation totaled 1,752,219 pieces split between five production facilities: Philadelphia (no mint mark), San Francisco (S mint mark), New Orleans, (O mint mark), Dahlonega, Georgia (D mint mark), and Charlotte, North Carolina (C mint mark). The mint mark is positioned on the coin's reverse, below the wreath.

More than 94 percent of the mintage of the Indian small head came from the Philadelphia Mint the first two years, with mint records of 902,736 struck in 1854 and 758,269 in 1855.