1856-S

The 1856-S marks the first San Francisco gold dollar of any type, and the only Type 2 issue ever struck at that mint. The San Francisco facility had opened in mid-1854, after Type 1 gold dollar production at other mints had already ended, so the small-head Type 2 design carried the burden of inaugurating gold dollar coinage on the West Coast. James B. Longacre's high-relief Indian Princess obverse was a notoriously difficult design to bring up fully, and the new San Francisco coiners were still developing their striking practices when this 24,600-piece run came off the presses. The result is an issue that sits at the intersection of two production problems, neither of which the issue's small mintage helps offset.

Strike weakness is the rule here, not the exception. Weak dates and indistinct reverse wreath details are normal for Type 2 in general, and noticeably worse on the San Francisco coinage of 1856 specifically; collectors evaluating examples should treat a sharply struck date as a meaningful premium feature rather than a baseline expectation. The standard authentication concern is the added-S alteration, in which a counterfeiter takes a genuine 1856 Philadelphia gold dollar and applies a fabricated mintmark. Strike characteristics combined with mintmark inspection under magnification are the key diagnostics; pedigree from established auction houses adds a layer of confidence on a sub-25,000 mintage issue that has been counterfeit-targeted for over a century. Raw purchases are a high-risk path on this date.

The 1856-S is a Semi-Key in the Type 2 gold dollar trio, scarcer than the high-mintage Philadelphia issues but not as severely thin as the 1855 Charlotte and Dahlonega rarities. Census data from PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, places survival in the several-hundred range across all grades, with Mint State examples genuinely scarce and well-struck Mint State examples scarcer still. Certified examples are the working standard, and the issue tends to hold its premium because it is structurally required for any complete Type 2 set and any complete San Francisco gold dollar set. For deeper context, see the Indian Princess Small Head Gold Dollar series history.