Indian Princess (Small Head) Gold Dollars
Indian Princess Small Head Gold Dollars (1854–1856)
The Portrait Came Directly from the Three-Dollar Gold Piece Longacre Was Designing Simultaneously
Mint Director James Ross Snowden's solution to the Type 1 gold dollar's size complaint was straightforward: widen the coin without changing its weight, and redesign both sides to suit the new proportions. Longacre was already at work on the three-dollar gold piece, which debuted the same year, 1854, and he adapted its Indian Princess obverse portrait directly for the gold dollar. The portrait shows a female figure in left-facing profile, wearing a feather headdress with LIBERTY inscribed on the band; the figure is typically described as an Indian princess, though Longacre's actual sources appear to have been classical rather than ethnographic; numismatic scholar Walter Breen argued it was modeled on Venus Accroupie, a Roman marble figure then on display in a Philadelphia museum, with the feather headdress being the one element Longacre specifically added. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the portrait on the obverse. The reverse shows a wreath of corn, cotton, wheat, and tobacco enclosing 1 DOLLAR and the date, the same agricultural imagery Longacre employed on the three-dollar piece and would later use on the Flying Eagle cent. The new coin measured 15 millimeters in diameter, noticeably larger than the 12.7-millimeter Type 1, while maintaining the same 1.672-gram weight by being correspondingly thinner.1
The Striking Problem Was Built Into the Design and Could Not Be Corrected Without Redesigning
From the first deliveries of 1854 gold dollars the striking problem was apparent. Longacre had made the obverse relief too high. During coining, metal flowing into the deep recesses of the obverse die was displaced from the corresponding areas of the reverse die directly opposite, preventing those areas from filling. The part of the reverse that suffered most directly was the center of the date: the middle two digits were routinely weak or absent on otherwise presentable coins. The high points of the portrait, particularly the hair above the eye and the details of the headdress, were similarly affected. The two letters L in DOLLAR and the designer's initial L at the truncation of the bust were often barely legible. Branch-mint strikes were worse than Philadelphia issues, as the branch facilities operated with less precise die alignment and fewer strikes per coin. Very few examples from any mint in any year of the type struck up fully at every point simultaneously. Within months of the first coinage Longacre began work on a corrected design, which replaced the type in 1856.2
The Six Date-and-Mint Combinations Include the Rarest Date in the Entire Gold Dollar Series
The Indian Princess Small Head gold dollar has only six date-and-mint combinations across its three calendar years of production. In 1854 only Philadelphia struck the type, with a mintage of 783,943. In 1855, Philadelphia continued with 758,269 pieces, joined by Charlotte at 9,803 coins, Dahlonega at 1,811 coins, and New Orleans at 55,000 coins, for a 1855 combined total of approximately 824,000. In 1856 only San Francisco struck the type, with 24,600 coins, as Philadelphia and the surviving branch mints had already transitioned to the corrected design. The 1855-D, with its mintage of 1,811, is the rarest date in the Type 2 series; it is rare in any grade and genuinely scarce in problem-free surfaces. The 1854 and 1855 Philadelphia issues are the accessible entries in the series; the 1855-C, 1855-O, and 1856-S are collectible scarce dates at meaningful premiums over the Philadelphia pieces.3
Building the Set
A type set requires one coin. The most practical path is an 1854 or 1855 Philadelphia piece in Very Fine to About Uncirculated, examined under magnification for the degree of date weakness before purchase. A coin showing the full four digits of the date, even if softly struck, is preferable to one showing a strong high-relief portrait with an illegible center date; the date is the more diagnostic strike marker and the more honest measure of overall striking quality. Gem (Mint State 65 or finer) Type 2 gold dollars are highly desirable and very scarce at any date; fully struck Gem examples approach rarity. A complete set of all six date-and-mint combinations is a small but demanding project: the Philadelphia dates are accessible, the 1855-O is available with patience, the 1856-S and 1855-C require persistent searching in problem-free surfaces, and the 1855-D at 1,811 coins struck demands a long wait and a significant budget regardless of grade. The primary specialist reference is Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Gold Dollars, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2011).4
Notes
- Snowden's directive to widen the coin while keeping the weight constant; Longacre's concurrent work on the three-dollar gold piece, debuting the same year 1854; the Indian Princess portrait adapted directly from the $3 obverse; the portrait description (female figure in left-facing profile, feather headdress with LIBERTY on the band, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounding); Breen's argument that the design was based on a Roman marble figure with the headdress added; the reverse wreath of corn, cotton, wheat, and tobacco enclosing 1 DOLLAR and the date, shared with the three-dollar piece; the 15mm diameter and 1.672-gram weight (same as Type 1 but thinner) are from Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Gold Dollars, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2011), pp. 120–160, and Breen, Walter, Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins (New York: F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, 1988).
- The striking problem's immediate appearance in 1854 deliveries; the mechanism (metal displacing from obverse recess to reverse, preventing reverse areas from filling); the central two date digits as the most affected reverse feature; weakness at the portrait's high points (hair, headdress); illegibility of the two Ls in DOLLAR and the designer's initial L; branch-mint strikes being worse than Philadelphia; very few examples from any mint striking up fully; Longacre beginning corrective design work before the end of 1854; the corrected design replacing this type in 1856 are from Bowers, A Guide Book of Gold Dollars, 2nd ed., pp. 155–195.
- The six date-and-mint combinations; 1854 Philadelphia at 783,943; 1855 Philadelphia at 758,269; 1855-C at 9,803; 1855-D at 1,811; 1855-O at 55,000; total 1855 approximately 824,000; 1856-S at 24,600 as the only 1856 issue; the 1855-D as the rarest date in the Type 2 series; total business-strike mintage of 1,633,426 are from Bowers, A Guide Book of Gold Dollars, 2nd ed., pp. 160–210.
- The type-set strategy (1854 or 1855 Philadelphia piece in Very Fine to About Uncirculated); pre-purchase magnification check for date weakness; the date as the more diagnostic strike marker; the scarcity of Gem examples; the six-coin complete set as a small but demanding project; the 1855-D's difficulty regardless of grade; and the primary reference are from Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Gold Dollars, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2011).
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