LONGACRE'S ONE DOLLAR GOLD COINS

 
1849-C Gold $1 Type 1

The history of the One Dollar gold coin truly began with the discovery of gold in California. Prior to that 1848 event, there had been gold discoveries in both Georgia and North Carolina but neither of these events required a One Dollar gold coin to be struck. The Seated Liberty Silver Dollar and its predecessors handled the job quite nicely.

James Barton Longacre, the Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, designed a small gold coin that was first struck in 1849. That particular coin was plagued with problems and only lasted until 1854. There were a tremendous number of complaints about the exceedingly small diameter (13 mm) of that first effort. Coins that small and very thin could easily be lost and when that loss represented a day's wages, it was a problem that could not be ignored.

Longacre redesigned the coin in 1854, and the diameter was increased by 15%, from 13mm to 15mm. This was the new Type Two coin design. While that alone was an improvement, the problems were not over. Now the issue was not size, but the strike. Longacre's new design was sculpted in significantly higher relief than the earlier Type One coins. Now the coins did not strike well as parts of the design were now barely legible, That proved totally unsatisfactory as well.

So in 1856, a third design was offered by Longacre to the American public. His design was similar to the Type Two design in that this coin depicted Miss Liberty wearing a Native American headdress, facing to the left. Much like the prior design, it also displayed the motto "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," around the periphery. Miss Liberty retained the word "LIBERTY," on the crown of her headdress. In fact, her head was enlarged over the Type Two coin. Her hair was arranged in a different position and her headdress was positioned higher and more upright. The relief of this new Type Three design was significantly lowered. This was not done for aesthetic appeal. It was done in order to reduce the number of places where recessed areas in the dies were exactly opposite one another. That would allow for the metal to flow more evenly between the dies and permit the coins to have a better and fuller strike.

The relief on the reverse was lowered as well, but there are no other noticeable design changes on the reverse. The wreath of comprised of corn, cotton, tobacco, and wheat remained, along, with the numeral "1" and the word "DOLLAR," in two lines inside the wreath. The date still displayed inside the wreath as well and the usual bow tying the wreath together also remained.

 
1861-D Gold $1 Type 3

To read the complete article, including the first part, see:
A Brief History Of James B. Longacre's One Dollar Gold Coins, Part 1 (https://www.greysheet.com/news/story/a-brief-history-of-james-b-longacre-s-one-dollar-gold-coins-part-1/0)
A Brief History Of James B. Longacre's One Dollar Gold Coins, Part 2 (https://www.greysheet.com/news/story/a-brief-history-of-james-b-longacre-s-one-dollar-gold-coins-part-2)

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