1859 Liberty Gold Dollars 1849-1889 AU50

History

The Coinage Act of 1849 authorized both the gold dollar and the double eagle in response to the California gold discoveries, the aim being to move newly mined metal into circulation as coin. James B. Longacre's design was struck at Philadelphia and at four branch mints, Charlotte, Dahlonega, New Orleans and San Francisco, and the denomination remains the smallest gold coin in size ever issued by the United States. In 1856 Longacre reworked the coin into what collectors call Type 3, enlarging and flattening the head, strengthening the legend, moving UNITED STATES OF AMERICA nearer the obverse border so the two dies no longer opposed each other, and altering the reverse wreath, changes that cured the striking problems of Type 2. The 1859-S falls in the last year that four mints produced gold dollars; after the Civil War the only mintmarked gold dollar was the 1870-S, and San Francisco coined the denomination in just seven years altogether.

Details

Longacre designed both sides of the Type 3 gold dollar, the obverse dating to 1856. The alloy is 90 percent gold and 10 percent copper, giving .04837 troy ounce of fine gold, with a statutory weight of 1.672 grams, a diameter of 14.3 millimeters and a reeded edge. Reported mintages for the San Francisco issue of 1859 are 15,000 and 10,000, the higher figure being the one carried by PCGS. The mintmark identifies the striking mint on all branch issues, Philadelphia pieces carrying none.

Features

The obverse shows Liberty as an Indian princess in a feathered headdress, rendered in the broader and lower Type 3 relief, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA close to the rim. The reverse places the denomination and date inside an agricultural wreath adapted from Longacre's three-dollar gold piece, with the S mintmark directly below the wreath; neither IN GOD WE TRUST nor E PLURIBUS UNUM appears. Strikes on the 1859-S run slightly softer than on the two preceding San Francisco dollars, with blurring at the OLL in DOLLAR and weakness on the tops of some letters in AMERICA. Luster is frosty and differs in texture from the 1857-S and 1858-S, and original pieces show a deep orange-gold color, though few survivors have escaped cleaning. No major variety, doubled die or repunched mintmark is recognized for the date.

Notable facts

• Fewer than a dozen Mint State examples are believed to survive, most of them grading MS60 to MS62.
• PCGS records an auction record of $24,000 for an MS64 sold on February 25, 2021, while a PCGS MS64 brought $17,000 in a March 2005 sale.
• One published survey of 192 auctions turned up 70 offerings of the date, of which only 10 graded AU or better.
• Total Type 3 business strike production reached 5,327,363 pieces alongside an estimated 8,700 proofs.
• The Type 1 reverse was the work of Peter Filatreu Cross, the only gold dollar die not designed by Longacre.
• The 1856-S is the most readily available San Francisco gold dollar, and 1860 was the first year that a few genuinely choice San Francisco pieces are known.