One of the Most Curious Coins in the Series joins the Gold Dollar Collection ***1856-S***
ambro51
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Even today it is a great distance between San Francisco and Philadelphia, but during the mid 19th century this journey usually included a sea passage, and a trip overland on the Panama Railroad. All in all, if you were lucky, it took a good month to make this trip. If you were Unlucky....your ship went down, bandits robbed you or you contracted a tropical disease. The San Francisco mint used dies that were made at the Philadelphia mint, and relied on this system for supply. 1856 was a curious year for the Gold Dollar, full of memorable coins and unusual situations. Charlotte and New Orleans were out of the picture this year, Philadelphia struck a very small number with an Upright 5 in the date...once thought a substantial rarity, and Dahlonega created 1460 rather crude coins which today are one of the main rarities of the series. The design had been changed, after the Type 2 proved to be an unworkable because of the high relief of the portrait and the thinness of the planchet had conspired to make a coin which was nearly impossible to strike perfectly. Longacre was forced to modify and reduce the portrait of the $3 gold piece, and adapt that more shallow, broader portrait for the $1 gold, while still using the same reverse design. The decision proved to be correct, and from 1856 until 1889 quality of strike improved dramatically, at least at Philadelphia.
The timeline is unclear, as is the reasoning, but San Francisco was shipped a small group of gold dollar dies of the type 2 design, with the date 1856. Perhaps the logic at the Mint in Philadelphia was that these west coast coins would never travel east...to be confused with the same denomination and date being coined in a different design. Anyway, 24 thousand were struck, and put into circulation, as was typical of San Francisco gold dollars.
Strike Quality was usually good, much better than the 1855 C and D mint issues, and nearly on a par with the Philadelphia coins. Breen felt he had made a major discovery when he noted that some coins had a Restruck mintmark, a doubled S...and this was noted as a variety for many years, until it was realized that nearly all had this restruck S, but some did not show it since the dies had been relapped. Today, it holds no premium but is interesting nonetheless.
Out of the original issue of 24 thousand, only about 40-60 exist in Mint State today, and only 12 grade MS63 and higher. QDB estimates 600-800 circulated survivors, most being VF-XF, with a smaller percentage in AU. PCGS has slabbed a total of 168 pieces. As with any type 2 Gold Dollar, the demand is very high, and prices reflect this. This is a coin which is essential for the completion of many different series, the type 2 dollars, the san francisco run of dollars, and also an interesting type coin. There are only six coins to the Type 2 subseries...but it is a man size chunk of collecting to get them all, as they contain two of the most difficult gold dollars, the 55C and 55D.
So let us Welcome Sebrina to the Gold Dollar Collection, 1856-S PCGS AU50
The timeline is unclear, as is the reasoning, but San Francisco was shipped a small group of gold dollar dies of the type 2 design, with the date 1856. Perhaps the logic at the Mint in Philadelphia was that these west coast coins would never travel east...to be confused with the same denomination and date being coined in a different design. Anyway, 24 thousand were struck, and put into circulation, as was typical of San Francisco gold dollars.
Strike Quality was usually good, much better than the 1855 C and D mint issues, and nearly on a par with the Philadelphia coins. Breen felt he had made a major discovery when he noted that some coins had a Restruck mintmark, a doubled S...and this was noted as a variety for many years, until it was realized that nearly all had this restruck S, but some did not show it since the dies had been relapped. Today, it holds no premium but is interesting nonetheless.
Out of the original issue of 24 thousand, only about 40-60 exist in Mint State today, and only 12 grade MS63 and higher. QDB estimates 600-800 circulated survivors, most being VF-XF, with a smaller percentage in AU. PCGS has slabbed a total of 168 pieces. As with any type 2 Gold Dollar, the demand is very high, and prices reflect this. This is a coin which is essential for the completion of many different series, the type 2 dollars, the san francisco run of dollars, and also an interesting type coin. There are only six coins to the Type 2 subseries...but it is a man size chunk of collecting to get them all, as they contain two of the most difficult gold dollars, the 55C and 55D.
So let us Welcome Sebrina to the Gold Dollar Collection, 1856-S PCGS AU50
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Comments
K
Congrats on another addition to the set and I'm enjoying seeing it grow quickly before our eyes
you should write up something for coinsarefun's website. You know this series very well, and you have some very nice coins so far.
Your threads are being bookmarked for future study!
wots next? a Stella? ha.
ed. -add "Type 2"
Were any MS 1856-S gold dollars found with the USS Central America wreckage?
The type 2 gold dollars can be a lifetime of collecting in themselves. 2 uber rare proofs, key date branch mints, a doubled die.....and with this 1856 S a rare occurance when the US mint made different designs between mints. Im not sure if that has ever happened beside this once.
A determined collector could put well over a million dollars into this tiny subset!
This is not true. I am looking at the Christie's catalog and lot 6 is an 1854 Type I G$1 in PCGS AU-58.