Lot 1326
1869 Pattern Gold Dollar. Aluminum, reeded edge. Judd-767. Pollock-852. High Rarity 7. PCGS graded Proof 65 Cameo. Struck in aluminum. A brilliant untoned gem. Full glowing mirror luster, the color of "black ice." Devices display lovely cameo contrast. Where a collector might expect to see the some deviation in the sharp relief, mainly in the high points of the coin where the design often fails to completely fill the dies, this standout Pattern Gold Dollar takes the opposite road by being boldness personified! Pop 1; none better (PCGS # 389218) .
Historic reference: Aluminum was the new "wonder metal" of the mid-1800s when this piece was made. Light and easy to work, it had splendid properties and possibilities. There was only one drawback: price. Although the price of aluminum fell to below that of silver by the early 1860s, it was still expensive to produce, hovering around twelve dollars a pound between 1862 and 1886. It retained this status until metallurgists found a way to smelt it in quantity. As a consequence, the US. mint struck only limited numbers of aluminum Patterns and die trial pieces each year, often Rarity-7 items. (In 1889, man's technology finally caught up with his need for large quantities of this miracle light metal; prices plummeted and aluminum was soon being used to make tokens, medals, promotional badges, inflation coins by the jillion, and all sorts of other doodads.).
Estimated Value $18,000 - 19,000.
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