Indian Head Liberty Three Dollar Gold Coin 1854-1889
Three
Dollar Gold Coin came into existence with the Mint Act of February 21, 1853. This
act authorized a Three Dollar Gold Coin. Congress and Mint Director Robert Maskell
Patterson were convinced that the new Three Dollar Gold Coin would speed purchases
of three-cent stamps by the sheet and of the silver three-cent coins in roll quantities.
Unfortunately, at no time during the 35-year span of this denomination did public
demand justify these hopes.
Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre
chose an "Indian Princess" for his obverse-not a Native American profile
for the Three Dollar Gold Coin, but actually a profile modeled after the Greco-Roman
Venus Accroupie statue then in a Philadelphia museum. Longacre used this distinctive
sharp-nosed profile on his Three Dollar Gold Coin of 1849 and would employ it
again on the Indian Head cent of 1859, thus the name the "Indian Head Liberty
Gold Coin".
On the Three Dollar Gold Coin Liberty is wearing
a feathered headdress of equal-sized plumes with a band bearing LIBERTY in raised
letters, wherein the name "Liberty Head Gold Coin". She's surrounded
by the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Such a headdress dates back to the
earliest known drawings of American Indians-French artist Jacques le Moyne du
Morgue's sketches of the Florida Timucua tribe who lived near the tragic French
colony of Fort Caroline in 1562. It was accepted by engravers and medalists of
the day as the design shorthand for "America."
Longacre's
reverse depicted a wreath of tobacco, wheat, corn and cotton with a plant at top
bearing two conical seed masses. The original wax models of this wreath still
exist on brass discs in a Midwestern collection and show how meticulous Longacre
was in preparing his design for the Three Dollar Gold Coin. Encircled by the wreath
is the denomination 3 DOLLARS and the date. There are two boldly different reverse
types, the small DOLLARS appearing only in 1854 and the large DOLLARS on Three
Dollar Gold Coins of 1855-89.
Many dates show bold "outlining"
of letters and devices, resembling a double strike but probably the result of
excessive forcing of the design punches into the die steel, causing a hint of
their sloping "shoulders" to appear as part of the Three Dollar Gold
Coin's design. So common is this phenomenon on United States coins of the mid-19th
century that it has acquired the name "Longacre doubling."
A
total of just over 535,000 Three Dollar Gold Coin pieces were issued along with
2058 proofs. The first coins struck were the 15 proofs of 1854. Regular coinage
began on May 1, and that first year saw 138,618 Three Dollar Gold Coin pieces
struck at Philadelphia (no mintmark), 1,120 Three Dollar Gold Coin pieces at Dahlonega
(D), and 24,000 Three Dollar Gold Coin pieces at New Orleans (O). These two branch
mints would strike Three Dollar Gold Coin pieces only in 1854. San Francisco produced
the Three Dollar Gold Coin pieces denomination in 1855, 1856, and 1857, again
in 1860, and apparently one final piece in 1870. Mintmarks are found below the
wreath of the Three Dollar Gold Coin.
Every U.S. denomination
Three Dollar Gold Coin boasts a number of major rarities. The Three Dollar Gold
Coin of 1854-1889 is studded with so many low-mintage dates that the entire series
of this Three Dollar Gold Coin may fairly be called rare. In mint state the 1878
Three Dollar Gold Coin is the most common date, followed by the 1879, 1888, 1854,
1889 and 1874 issues. Every other Three Dollar Gold Coin date is very rare in
high grade, particularly 1858, 1865, 1873 Closed 3 and all the San Francisco issues.
Minuscule mintages of the Three Dollar Gold Coin were the rule in the later years.
Proof Three Dollar Gold Coins prior to 1859 are extremely rare and more difficult
to find than the proof-only issues of 1873 Open 3, 1875 and 1876, but many dates
are even rarer in the higher mint state grades. This is because at least some
proofs of the Indian Liberty Head or Three Dollar Gold Coin were saved by well-
heeled collectors, while few collectors showed any interest in higher-grade business
strikes of Three Dollar Gold Coin. Counterfeits are known for many dates of the
Three Dollar Gold Coin; any suspicious piece should be authenticated.
The
rarest date of all for the Three Dollar Gold Coin is the unique 1870-S, of which
only one example was struck for inclusion in the new Mint's cornerstone. Either
this Three Dollar Gold Coin escaped, or a second was struck as a pocket piece
for San Francisco Mint Coiner J. B. Harmstead. In any event, one Three Dollar
Gold Coin showing traces of jewelry use surfaced in the numismatic market in 1907,
and it was sold to prominent collector William H. Woodin. When Thomas L. Elder
sold the Woodin collection in 1911, this Three Dollar Gold Coin went to Baltimore's
Waldo C. Newcomer. Later this Three Dollar Gold Coin was owned by Virgil Brand,
it was next sold by Ted and Carl Brandts of Ohio's Celina Coin Co. and Stack's
of New York to Louis C. Eliasberg in 1946 for $11,500. In Bowers and Ruddy's October
1982 sale of the Eliasberg Collection, this famous Three Dollar Gold Coin sold
for a record $687,500.
The Three Dollar Gold Coin denomination
quietly expired in 1889 along with the gold dollar and nickel three-cent piece.
America's coinage was certainly more prosaic without this odd denomination Three
Dollar Gold Coin piece, but its future popularity with collectors would vastly
outstrip the lukewarm public reception it enjoyed during its circulating life.
Very
few mint state examples survive of any but the handful of relatively common dates
noted above. Most Three Dollar Gold Coin pieces are found in the grades of Very
Fine or Extremely Fine. Many of these Three Dollar Gold Coins are damaged from
use as jewelry. Quite a few Three Dollar Gold Coins were fashioned into "love
tokens." This involved planing off one side of the coin, typically the reverse
of the Three Dollar Gold Coin, and inscribing a message or sentiment of some kind
in its place. The popularity of such mementos peaked during the 1880s, and numerous
gold dollars, quarter eagles and three-dollar pieces succumbed to this folk art.
As
there's quite a difference in value between mint state examples of the Three Dollar
Gold Coin and those exhibiting some wear, careful grading of these coins is critical.
The high points of the obverse Three Dollar Gold Coin design that first show wear
are the cheek and hair above the eye; on the reverse Three Dollar Gold Coin, check
the bow knot and leaves. Also, always look carefully at any uncertified specimens,
as these may have been repaired to disguise old mountings or other signs of jewelry
use.
Three Dollar Gold Coin
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter:
20.6 millimeters
Weight: 5.015 grams
Composition: .900
gold, .100
Copper
Edge: Reeded
Net Weight: .14512 ounce pure gold
