Indian Head Liberty Three Dollar Pieces 1854-1889 Coin Guide
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Indian Head Liberty Three Dollar Pieces 1854-1889
In 1853 the United States negotiated the "Gadsden
Purchase"-settlement of a boundary dispute with Mexico that resulted
in the U.S. acquiring what would become the southern portions of Arizona
and New Mexico for ten million dollars. The following year Commodore
Matthew Perry embarked upon his famed expedition to re-open Japan to the
Western world and establish trade. Spreading beyond its borders in many
ways, a few years earlier the United States had joined the worldwide move
to uniform postage rates and printed stamps when the Congressional Act of
March 3, 1845 authorized the first U.S. postage stamps, and set the local
prepaid letter rate at five cents. This set the stage for a close
connection between postal and coinage history.
Exactly six years later, the postage rate was reduced to three cents
when New York Senator Daniel S. Dickinson fathered legislation that
simultaneously initiated coinage of the tiny silver three-cent piece as a
public convenience. The large cents then in circulation were cumbersome
and unpopular, and the new denomination was designed to facilitate the
purchase of stamps without using the hated "coppers."
This reasoning was carried a step further when the Mint Act of February
21, 1853 authorized a three-dollar gold coin. Congress and Mint Director
Robert Maskell Patterson were convinced that the new 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, 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 gold dollar of 1849 and would employ it again on the Indian Head cent
of 1859.
On the three-dollar coin Liberty is wearing a feathered headdress of
equal-sized plumes with a band bearing LIBERTY in raised letters. 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.
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 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 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 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 pieces struck at Philadelphia
(no mintmark), 1,120 at Dahlonega (D), and 24,000 at New Orleans (O).
These two branch mints would strike coins only in 1854. San Francisco
produced the three-dollar denomination in 1855, 1856, and 1857, again in
1860, and apparently one final piece in 1870. Mintmarks are found below
the wreath.
Every U.S. denomination boasts a number of major rarities. The
three-dollar gold coinage of 1854-1889 is studded with so many low-mintage
dates that the entire series may fairly be called rare. In mint state 1878
is the most common date, followed by the 1879, 1888, 1854, 1889 and 1874
issues. Every other date is very rare in high grade, particularly 1858,
1865, 1873 Closed 3 and all the San Francisco issues. Minuscule mintages
were the rule in the later years. Proof 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 were saved by well- heeled
collectors, while few collectors showed any interest in higher-grade
business strikes of gold coins. Counterfeits are known for many dates; any
suspicious piece should be authenticated.
The rarest date of all is the unique 1870-S, of which only one example
was struck for inclusion in the new Mint's cornerstone. Either the coin
escaped, or a second was struck as a pocket piece for San Francisco Mint
Coiner J. B. Harmstead. In any event, one 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, the coin went to Baltimore's Waldo C. Newcomer.
Later 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 coin sold for a record $687,500.
The three-dollar 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 gold 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 pieces are found in
the grades of Very Fine or Extremely Fine, many of them damaged from use
as jewelry. Quite a few were fashioned into "love tokens." This
involved planing off one side of the coin, typically the reverse, 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 piece and those exhibiting some wear, careful grading of
these coins is critical. The high points of the obverse design that first
show wear are the cheek and hair above the eye; on the reverse, 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.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 20.6 millimeters Weight: 5.015 grams Composition: .900 gold,
.100 Copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .14512 ounce pure gold
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Akers, David W., United States Gold
Coins,Volume III, Three Dollar Gold Pieces and Four Dollar Gold Pieces,
Paramount Publications, Englewood, OH, 1979. Breen, Walter, Major
Varieties of the United States Three Dollar Gold Pieces, Hewitt Numismatic
Publications, Chicago. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia
of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988.
Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Winter, Douglas, Gold Coins
of the Dahlonega Mint 1838-1861, DWN Publishing, Dallas, 1997. Winter,
Douglas, New Orleans Mint Gold Coins: 1839-1909, Bowers & Merena
Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1992.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
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