One Dollar Gold Liberty Head Coin

Coin	Weight (g)	Composition	Gold Melt Value	Full Melt Value
Liberty Head TI(1849-1854)	1.355	Gold 90%, Copper 10%

The One Dollar Gold Liberty Head Coin was first minted in 1849 and continued through 1854.  Collectors often refer to the Liberty Head design of these gold one dollar coins as Type I Gold Dollar Coins.  These gold coins were designed by James Barton Longacre and are the smallest coins minted by the United States.  They are 12.7 millimeters in diameter, weighing 1.672 grams, containing 90% gold and 10%copper.

The United States of America’s second gold rush had just begun in California when it was decided to try a one dollar gold coin.  The first US gold rush began in the mid-1820 with gold found in the southern most eastern part of the Appalachian mountain range in North Carolina and Georgia.  The US Mint had already opened three new mints to handle the East coast Gold Rush and plans were in development for opening a mint in San Francisco.

In 1838 the US opened mints in Charlotte, NC and Dahlonega, GA exclusively to mint gold coins from the gold mines exclusively.  Their coins have the mint marks “C” for Charlotte and “D” for Dahlonega.  A third mint in New Orleans, LA was also opened and used “O” as a mint mark.

The New Orleans was a favored southern port since the founding of the city in 1718.  Situated at the mouth of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico it handled more foreign trade than any other port in the United States.  A mint was a great idea for many reasons: a large amount of gold from Mexico passed through the port and gold was also discovered in Alabama.  The New Orleans mint handled over flow from the Appalachian gold rush and gold coming around the Cape of Hope or over land through Panama from the California gold rush.  New Orleans also struck US silver coins.

The obverse of the One Dollar Gold Liberty Head Coin has a Liberty Head facing left.  She is wearing a coronet with “LIBERTY” on it and her hair is tied up.  There are thirteen stars encircling her near the rim of the coin.  The edge is reeded.

The reverse of the One Dollar Gold Liberty Head Coin has a large “1” centered and slightly above the middle of the coin. Centered and running through the true center is “DOLLAR” and directly under that is the date.  A wreath encircles this with the mint mark directly under the lowest central bow of the wreath.  The rest of the coin’s design is encircled with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” along the rim.  There are two variation of this coin; one is the “Opened Wreath” and the second is the “Closed Wreath”.  On the closed wreath variety the tips of the wreath come very close to the large “1” on the reverse.  The opened wreath variety has the wreath tips far from touching the “1”.  There is also a thousand “Small Head No L” struck in 1849.

The US mints struck a very large quantity of the One Dollar Gold Liberty Head Coin in order to put as much of the gold rush gold into circulation.  Eventually the small size of this coin made it unpopular.  Being only three quarters of the size of a dime it was easily lost and for its value be equal to an average person’s daily wage that would be a great loss. It was resized in 1854.

 

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