Lot 1676
1854 $1 Gold Indian. NGC graded MS-62. Lightly toned and frosty. A showy Type 2 specimen with a cocktail of underlying luster, frosty to satiny, that breathes scorching life into the attractively toned highlights, which are nicely struck with crisp details aplenty. (The 1854 Type 2 is generally better struck than the 1855 gold dollar.)
Once the Treasury Department agreed to the new Type 2 design, coinage began on August 19, 1854. Within no time the Mint laid bare the new design's shortcoming: The relief of the obverse motif was too high and Longacre had situated it opposite the highest points of the reverse. This created poor metal flow into the die cavities and even the capable Philadelphia Mint could not generate fully struck examples. Most pieces emerged from the Mint with weak devices and rapidly wore down to illegibility. The barely identifiable survivors that the Mint retrieved from circulation were melted as hastily as they had been designed, thus partly accounting for the relative scarcity of true Mint States of this important 3-year Type.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,300.
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