1875

The 1875 gold dollar had a mintage of just 420 coins, making it one of the lowest-production dates in the entire spectrum of United States regular-issue coinage. The figure includes both circulation strikes and the approximately 20 proof coins struck for collectors. How many of the 420 were business strikes and how many were proofs has been debated for more than a century, and the distinction matters because circulation strikes and proofs have different market profiles and values.

The coin is a genuine rarity in any format. PCGS and NGC together have certified only about 60 to 80 coins, including both business strikes and proofs. From the 1880s through the 1950s, proofs appeared at auction more frequently than circulation strikes, a pattern that reversed after the 1960s as the populations were reexamined and many coins previously described as proofs were reclassified. Current scholarship suggests that circulation strikes are modestly more available than proofs, though both are rare.

A PCGS Proof-66 Deep Cameo sold for $61,688 at Heritage's FUN auction in January 2013. Circulation strike examples in high grades command comparable prices. An 1875 gold dollar graded MS66 Prooflike was offered at Stack's Bowers' November 2025 Showcase Auction, illustrating that examples still appear periodically at major sales. The prices reflect the coin's position as one of the anchor rarities in the gold dollar series.

The 420-coin mintage sits in the same territory as the 1875 three-dollar gold piece (20 proofs only) and the 1875 quarter eagle (11,600 circulation plus 20 proofs). The year 1875 was unusual across multiple gold denominations, with production at historic lows for reasons tied to the lingering gold premium and the depressed economy following the Panic of 1873. The gold dollar's 420-coin output is the extreme case, and any collector building a complete date set of Type 3 gold dollars faces the 1875 as the single most expensive and difficult acquisition.