Exciting Find! 1857 Dahlonega Gold Dollar
asheland
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This one has me pretty stoked! I got this within the last hour. 
I’d love opinions on strike and surfaces, from my observations, this appears very choice and original.
Anyone want to guess the grade?
28
Comments
Very cool. Tough to grade these, ill try XF40?
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Are those lines on the plastic?
45
Mr_Spud
VF35
If not, I call it XF - Details.
Lots to like about that coin. Just coming from the Southern Mint may be enough to overcome the minimal "scratches" allowing for a straight grade. XF/EF?
Yes. Definitely looks wiped. But...
45
The right obverse surface and the right reverse lower surface have lots of noise suggesting a cleaning/wiping at some point. The color is pleasing along with nice details. These are poorly struck and I won’t even venture to guess a grade.
Unfortunately those scratches are a major distraction in my opinion.
50, those were known for having problems.
She’ll the liberty looks really well defined. To me the surface looks nice and original. Awsome coin 👍👍👍
I'm always undergrading these. I think it's either 45 or 50.
I'll go with AU 50.
Nice! 45.
53 CAC
45/50
I would guess XF45... If the hairlines do not cause a 'details'... though not likely. Cheers, RickO
Going with 40, but this mint had quality issues so possibly as high as 50.
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They are hairlines, but they go all directions. Not cleaned at all, just circulation. Any angle will show them differently.
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Good guesses and I understand the VF and XF guesses as these are struck very differently.
I scrutinized this extensively as it’s very expensive for me. It’s very original and choice. And, comparing to a few CoinFacts true views, it’s pretty well struck to boot.
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I'm late to the party but a very nice addition to your collection, congrats.
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most gold collectors know that color is the number one indicator of surface quality on old gold. Was one of the foundations of @RYK 's DOG proselytizing. If the dirt and color don't fit, it aint legit. That coin has the classic olive/ gold coloration with copper highlights that many seek in circulated southern gold and is quite nice to these eyes. That and judging/weighting a few lines overly hard on an circulated coin the size of a gold dollar in a blow up photo is a point that is missing the point.
I love it personally, I don't think it would CAC at the 53 level but I bet it would at the EF level, lines and all. That said PCGS is often willing to account for (poor) strike with their grading when luster/surface preservation states higher more than CAC does. CAC likes complete packages even on issues where the complete package is often never found. There are exceptions obviously but not many.
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Great grade - congrats!
Great pickup!!!
Congrats on a nice old piece of gold.
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collecting branch mint gold, especially pre-civil war, is a seriously fun and challenging endeavor, lets not forget, quite expensive even for circ examples.
PLS aside: CF Says -
David Akers (1975/88): In my opinion, this date is one of the most underrated Type III gold dollars. In the 192 auction catalogues surveyed, the 1857-D was offered ten times less than the highly regarded 1860-D. Also, the total of only four Uncs. offered is just slightly more than one third the total of eleven Uncs. offered for the 1861-D. Every specimen that I have seen is very poorly struck, particularly at the upper reverse and on both the hair and headdress of Liberty.
Doug Winter: Even though the 1857-D is valued comparably to the 1858-D and 1859-D gold dollars, it is much rarer. Along with the 1850-D it is the most underrated Dahlonega gold dollar, especially in higher grades.
The 1857-D gold dollar is most often seen in Very Fine and Extremely Fine grades. This is a rare date in About Uncirculated and most About Uncirculated coins are not very choice for the grade. It becomes very rare in About Uncirculated-55 and About Uncirculated-58 and it is extremely rare in full Mint State with just half a dozen or so currently known.
STRIKE: The quality of strike on this issue is below average. The obverse is the better struck of the two sides, but is still weakly impressed. The border is the sharpest portion with nearly full milling and mostly sharp letters. The top of Liberty’s bonnet is weak as is the hair, especially around the eye and ear of Liberty.
The reverse is very weakly struck from 8:00 to 1:00 at the border, the bow and knot and the lower right side of the wreath. The 85 in the date is always weak as is the OLL in DOLLAR. The milling at the lower reverse is surprisingly sharp.
SURFACES: Raised segments on the reverse, as seen on all 1856-D gold dollars, are present on examples of this date as well. This was not a carefully manufactured issue and some show mint-made planchet problems which range from minor to severe. It is unusual to find an 1857-D gold dollar without medium to severe surface problems as well. Many show serious marks while others have scratches or signs of abuse.
LUSTER: It is not easy to locate examples which retain luster. But those that do have surprisingly good luster. It is bright and frosty with an almost pillowy texture.
COLORATION: The natural coloration is most often a rich orange-gold coloration. Other shades seen include bright yellow-gold and light green-gold. Totally original coins are almost never seen as most have been dipped or cleaned.
EYE APPEAL: Due to its poor strike and frequent planchet problems, this is an issue that can be best appreciated by knowledgeable dealers and collectors. Very few 1857-D gold dollars have even average quality eye appeal and most are decidedly below average.
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS: Nearly all of the Uncirculated examples of this date that exist have been graded by the major services in the past few years.
This is the result of a combination of factors that include a loosening of grading standards from the ultra-conservative early years of third party encapsulation and a greater understanding by the services about the strike and surfaces characteristics of the 1857-D gold dollar.
DIE VARIETIES: Only one die variety is known.
Variety 9-L: The lettering on the obverse is very heavy with the A and the second S in STATES both filled. The reverse has a number of similarities to that found on the 1856-D, including the same mintmark punch, a filled O in DOLLAR and raised segments from 2:00 to 5:00.
Nice pickup. I like it. Congrats!
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Courtesy Image post enlargement of subject coin to discern details…
Stuart
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Love the crudeness of it
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@BillJones do you have this date? I know you have something similar. Maybe it’s a Charlotte I’m thinking of..
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I do too. And comparing this to others, it’s actually pretty well struck.
I love the “O” in Dollar. It looks like a donut.
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Yeah, I’m in the ‘like the look of it’ camp. Would be proud to own it.
I like the color and think the lines are circulation hairlines. They can be exaggerated by photography lighting. Especially given the neat factor of branch mint gold, I'm a big fan of the coin.
Here is my AU58 for comparison.
I like it a lot, the first thing that drew me in was the color.
I have seen many of these and I think it is correctly graded at 53. It's best feature is the original color and surfaces. Many of the branch mint issues have been "messed with" to improve their grade.
Glad to see I was correct about the likelihood of getting a straight grade and nice bonus that it got upgraded to an AU too!
Here’s my example.
That date was struck in VF
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@liefgold @skier07 Great examples and thanks for sharing them!
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Everyone one loves Dahlonega
I have an 1858-D gold dollar. I bought it a FUN Winter show about nine years ago. Our hosts graded it MS-61 and oddly enough, it has a green CAC sticker.
I do have an 1857-C I bought in an auction some time ago. It's only an EF. The trouble with Charlotte Mint "large gold dollars" (Types I and II) is that the C coins were very poorly made. You can sink a lot more money into them and not get that much more coin. PCGS graded this one EF-45.
I totally agree with Bill on the 1857-C. Mine has a small planchet defect on the obverse which is likely why it graded a 45. Here is mine.
Nice pickup.
Wayne
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Have yet to see a piece of southern gold that didn't temp me... Nice pickup!
Exactly, I think it is wiped, but they will forgive a rare gold coin like that, and straight grade it.
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Excellent coins, Bill!
Thanks for posting them!
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