COIN NAME: $3 GOLD 1854-1889 Indian HeadDESIGNED BY: James Barton Longacre
ISSUE DATE: 1854-1889
COMPOSITION: 0.900 part gold, 0.100 part copper
DIAMETER: 20.5 mm
WEIGHT: 77.4 grains
EDGE: Reeded
BUS MINT: 538,074
PROOF MINT: 2,060 (estimated)
It is hard to imagine the perceived need for a $3 gold coin. Perhaps it was an experiment or maybe just an effort to create something different for future numismatists to ponder. This period was the only period in which the $3 gold coin was produced. The result today is that all grades are scarce and valuable. However, there will be no problem encountered in locating one of the higher mintage dates such as 1854, 1874, or 1878. They were produced at the Philadelphia Mint continuously through 1889.
The obverse features the head of an Indian princess, facing left, wearing a feathered headdress upon which is a band inscribed LIBERTY. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds. The reverse displays an agricultural wreath enclosing 3 DOLLARS and the date. The obverse portrait and the reverse wreath are similar to those found on the Type II gold dollar minted 1854-1856. In addition to the Philadelphia coinage, pieces were struck from time to time at Dahlonega, New Orleans (only in 1854) and San Francisco. Among coins of the 1854-1859 era, grades most often encountered range from Very Fine to Extremely Fine. AU pieces are scarce, and Uncirculated pieces are rare, with the possible exception of 1854, which occurs more frequently. Superb Uncirculated pieces are quite rare. Among later $3 pieces available grades are higher, with typical grades being in the Extremely Fine to AU range and, in the 1880s, AU to Uncirculated. Superb Uncirculated pieces are quite scarce. Proofs were minted and are available in proportion to their production figures. All are rare.