Gold $1 Various reverse dies?

Merc

A member of the coin club brought in an uncirculated 1881 gold $1. I rarely ever see $1 gold coins. Most people collect the larger coins. My first concern when looking at uncirculated gold is if it real or not. The gold $1 were made with 3 major design changes. The wreath is the same for the type II and III. On the few I have seen, the ends of the wreath do not touch. On the 1881 coin, the ends touched and overlapped some. I thought that looked strange. The obverse was different also. The letters all have a wide base and narrow to form the letter. After the meeting, I looked at the gold $1 on heritage. The early gold dollars do not have the ends of the wreath touching. Then the 1877 has the ends touch slightly. The 1881 has the ends overlap even more, plus the obverse lettering has a short wide base to each letter. The 1882 is the same way. Then for the 1888, the ends do not touch and the lettering looks normal. What was going on at the mint? Why did the mint change the die for a year and then change it back?

Please post some gold $1 if you have them.

Dennis88

Very interesting question which I can't really answer. My first idea was that they made a complete new hub for 1888. They again used to old hub early in 1889 after which the denomination was demolished and both hubs proved to be unusable for furthur coinage. But this does not sounds to be a story that can be true...

Dennis

PerryHall

As the dies are used, they are frquently polished. Since the design elements are sightly tapered to facilitate the flow of metal into the die , certain design elements such as the tips of the wreath show more space each time the die is polished.

CaptHenway

<< <i>As the dies are used, they are frquently polished. Since the design elements are sightly tapered to facilitate the flow of metal into the die , certain design elements such as the tips of the wreath show more space each time the die is polished. >>



Exactly. Sometimes the excessive polishing can occur before the die is initially used, sometimes during repolishing.
TD

Merc

From the pictures and coins I have seen, the wreath ends do not touch on the type II and III coins from 1854 to the mid 1870's. All of the 1881 and 1882 gold $1 have the ends not just touching, but the design is different and they overlap some. The lettering is also very different. Overpolishling would not explain the differences. I wish I could post some pictures, but I do not own any.

goldboy

<< <i>What was going on at the mint? Why did the mint change the die for a year and then change it back? >>



Usually due to internal decisions at the mint for whatever reason (damaged dies, spec changes, etc.). I too have noticed varying designs in the $1 golds and I often wonder if the mint was considering multiple designs of the coin and inevitably had to settle on one.

Check the PCGS coin facts site for reference photos of the gold dollars.