Gold dollar
Encyclopedia
| Gold Dollar (United States) | |
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| Value: | 1.00 U.S. dollar United States dollar The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies.... |
| Mass: | 16.72 g Gram The gram is a metric system unit of mass.... |
| Diameter: | 13 mm (1849-1854) 15 mm (1854-1889) |
| Edge: | reeded |
| Composition: | 90.0% Au Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a... 10.0% Cu Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish... |
The gold dollar was a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dollar coin
United States dollar coin
Dollar coins have been minted in the United States in gold, silver, and base metal versions. The term silver dollar is often used for any large white metal coin issued by the United States with a face value of one dollar, although purists insist that a dollar is not silver unless it contains some...
produced from 1849 to 1889. Composed of 90% pure gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, it was the smallest denomination of gold currency ever produced by the United States federal government. When the US system of coinage was originally designed there had been no plans for a gold dollar coin, but in the late 1840s, two gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
es later, Congress was looking to expand the use of gold in the country’s currency. The gold dollar was authorized by the Act of March 3, 1849, and the Liberty Head type began circulating soon afterward. Because of the high value of gold, the gold dollar is the second smallest coin in the history of US coinage, after the silver three cent piece
Three-cent piece (United States coin)
The United States three cent piece was a unit of currency equaling 3/100th of a United States dollar. The mint produced two different three-cent coins: the three-cent silver and the three-cent nickel. Its purchasing power in 1851 would be equivalent to $ today.-History:The three cent coin has an...
.
History
The gold dollar had its origins more than a decade before the Act of March 3, in the Carolina Gold RushCarolina Gold Rush
The Carolina Gold Rush, the first gold rush in the United States, followed discovery of gold in North Carolina in 1799. It was not until a few years later that word of the gold spread and men started coming to North Carolina from other states. This gold rush coincided with the Georgia Gold Rush...
of the 1830s. The sudden availability of gold caused the US government to make several changes to its coinage system. Gold coins were minted in considerably larger quantities, and new mints were opened at Charlotte
Charlotte Mint
The Charlotte Mint was a branch of the United States Mint that came into existence on March 3, 1835 during the Carolina Gold Rush. The first gold mine in the United States was established in North Carolina at the Reed Gold Mine...
and Dahlonega
Dahlonega Mint
The Dahlonega Mint was a branch of the United States Mint. It was located at 34°31.8′N 83°59.2′W at Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, Georgia. Coins produced at the Dahlonega Mint bear the "D" mint mark. That mint mark is used today by the Denver Mint, which opened many years after the Dahlonega Mint...
solely for the production of gold coins. It was around this time that the first gold dollars were minted in the United States, but not by the government. Christopher Bechtler
Christopher Bechtler
Christopher Bechtler was a German-American goldsmith and watchmaker. He became rich and famous through an American gold rush based on his concept of producing defined gold dollars, the Bechtler Dollars, in the early 1830s and by 1840, before the US government itself started to produce gold...
, a German immigrant and jeweler by profession capitalized on the gold rush, by offering to turn prospectors’ raw gold into coins. He began offering this service in the early 1830s in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, and by 1840 he had produced over $2.2 million in gold coinage. Nearly half of this was in the form of gold dollars.
Bechtler’s actions were perfectly legal at the time, but his success attracted the attention of the US government. It was suggested by members of the government that the US Mint
United States Mint
The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...
take part in this new, profitable venture and begin minting gold dollars of their own. In 1836, Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
authorized the US Mint to do just that, but Mint Director Robert Patterson
Robert M. Patterson
Robert Maskell Patterson was a professor of mathematics, chemistry and natural philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and professor of natural philosophy at the University of Virginia before serving as director of the US Mint from 1835 to 1851...
opposed the idea, and nothing came of the matter for the time being. In 1849 however, things changed. A new gold rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
had sparked demand yet again for more gold coinage. Director Patterson still objected, but was unable to dissuade Congress. The Act of March 3, 1849 authorized production not only of gold dollars, but another new coin, the double eagle
Double Eagle
A Double Eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. . The coins are made from a 90% gold and 10% copper alloy....
. Production of both denominations would soon begin.
Liberty Head type (1849-1854)
Designed by James B. Longacre, the first type of gold dollar is known as the “Liberty Head” type or the “Type I” gold dollar. The obverse of the coins depicts Liberty's head circled by thirteen starsThirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
. She faces to the left and wears a coronet inscribed with the word "LIBERTY". The reverse, designed with help from Longacre's assistant, Peter Filatreu Cross , depicts a simple wreath encircling the date and value of the coin, and the inscription “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”. Weighing 1.672 grams, the coin had a composition of .900 gold and .100 copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
. It therefore contained .04837 ounces of pure gold. Starting in 1849, a quantity of the Liberty Head gold dollar was minted each year at Philadelphia
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national mint a main priority after the ratification of the Constitution of...
and Dahlonega. The coin was also minted at Charlotte, New Orleans
New Orleans Mint
The New Orleans Mint operated in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a branch mint of the United States Mint from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million gold and silver coins of nearly every American denomination, with a total face value of over...
, and San Francisco
San Francisco Mint
The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint, and was opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush. It quickly outgrew its first building and moved into a new one in 1874. This building, the Old United States Mint, also known affectionately as The Granite Lady,...
. The quantity minted in total each year ranges from 511,301 in 1850 to 4,384,149 in 1853. However, a problem soon arose with this type. The Liberty Head gold dollar had a diameter of only 13 mm. At less than three-quarters the size of the present-day dime
Dime (United States coin)
The dime is a coin 10 cents, one tenth of a United States dollar, labeled formally as "one dime". The denomination was first authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. The dime is the smallest in diameter and is the thinnest of all U.S...
, it was the smallest coin in U.S. history. Because it was so small, it could be easily lost despite its very high value (its purchasing power was equal to $ today). As a result of this issue, many people were highly critical of the new coin. In response to their objections, the US Mint began experimenting with new designs. It was important that the weight of the coin remain the same because of gold values, so they soon began experimenting with putting a hole in the middle of a larger coin. These plans were scrapped when James Snowden became Mint Director in 1853. His idea was that the coin simply be made wider but thinner, and that James Longacre redesign its faces.
Small Head (1854-1856)
In 1854 the US Mint issued the redesigned gold dollar with an increased diameter of 15 mm. As planned, neither its weight nor its composition was changed. James Longacre designed a new obverse for the coin based on his work with the three-dollar pieceThree-dollar piece
The three-dollar piece was a United States coin produced from 1854 to 1889. Its value was intended to tie in with the postal system. At the time, a first class postage stamp was worth 3¢, and such stamps were often sold in sheets of one hundred stamps. Therefore, the three-dollar piece was...
. The head depicted on the obverse has commonly been described as an "Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
princess," and gave this type its name. However, historians have suggested that the design is actually based on a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
figure, to which a headdress was added by Longacre. More specifically, it has been suggested that he based the design on “Crouching Venus
Crouching Venus
The Crouching Venus is a Hellenistic model of Venus surprised at her bath. Venus crouches with her right knee close to the ground, turns her head to the right and, in most versions, reaches her right arm over to her left shoulder to cover her breasts...
” a statue on display in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
. In addition to the obverse, the reverse of the gold dollar was also modified somewhat, and the inscription “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” was moved to the obverse. The overall wreath design remained unchanged however.
In the few years of this type's production, only six date mint mark
Mint mark
A mint mark is an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced.-History:Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem. If a coin was underweight, or overweight, the mint mark would immediately tell where the coin was minted, and the problem could be located and fixed...
combinations were created: 1854, 1855, 1855C, 1855D, 1855O, and 1856S. The quantities minted in total each year were 783,943 in 1854, 824,883 in 1855, and 24,600 in 1856. Although the diameter of the gold dollar had been considerably improved, the new Indian Head type was not free from problems. The height of the relief was such that very few of the coins produced were fully struck, and as a result the design was not sturdy enough for circulation. The Mint would have to redesign the gold dollar once again.
Large Head (1856-1889)
In 1856, a newly durable gold dollar was released by the Mint. Dubbed “the Large Head type,” Longacre's new design was very similar to that of the Small Head type, but the size of the Indian head on the obverse increased, while at the same time it became more flat. The headdress changed location as well, and the details of the face were slightly altered. The new type was minted continuously at Philadelphia, but in certain years quantities were also produced at Charlotte, Dahlonega, and San Francisco. In addition, proofsProof coinage
Proof coinage means special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies and for archival purposes, but nowadays often struck in greater numbers specially for coin collectors . Many countries now issue them....
were minted at Philadelphia from 1859 on. The quantity of proofs minted each year ranges from an estimated 15 in 1856 to 1,779 in 1889. In total, the quantity of coins minted each year ranges from 420 in 1875 to 1,764,396 in 1856. Although regular production of the gold dollar was discontinued in 1889, commemorative issues were struck from 1903 to 1905, 1915 to 1917 and 1922. Gold dollars continued to circulate in some areas until the country abandoned the gold standard in the early 1930s.