$1 gold princess question re: doubling of obv. letters

CoinHusker

I was at a local show today and one of the dealers had a really nice 1881 $1 gold princess and he mentioned that the letters on the obv. appeared to be doubled on both sides of the letters and that the dies were engraved that way. Is that true? is that kind of doubling common on $1 gold princesses? I don't know anything about $1 gold so any info would be appreciated. The dealer said that he was told that this kind of doubling was almost like a "signature" of Mr. Longacre.

BTW, notlogical noticed that the rev. also had some doubling on the 1 and on some elements of the wreath.

commoncents05

Yes, it's called "Longacre Doubling"

-Paul

CaptHenway

Many of the hubs that they used in the mid to late 19th century, especially those created by Longacre, did not have a finished field such as you would find on, say, a Barber quarter hub. The lettering stood up above the field of the hub on small pedestals that surrounded the individual letters.

After sinking, the fields would be ground down, or basined, to the desired curvature, and theoretically down to the bases of the letters themselves. If the field was not completely basined away, the remnants of these pedestals would show as outlines to the letters. This is quite common.

TD

CoinHusker

thank you!

lathmach

<< <i>Yes, it's called "Longacre Doubling"

-Paul >>




This is correct.
Seems like you'd of known that, Longacre.

Ray