Three Dollar Gold Pieces (1854 - 1889)

This unusual denomination was created by the Mint Act of February 21, 1853, which authorized a three-dollar gold coin. Congress and Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson were convinced that the new coin would speed purchases of three-cent stamps by the sheet and of the silver three-cent coins in roll quantities.

Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre chose an “Indian Princess” for his obverse—not a Native American profile, but actually a profile modeled after the Greco-Roman Venus Accroupie statue then in a Philadelphia museum. Longacre used this distinctive sharp-nosed profile on his gold dollar of 1849 and would employ it again on the Indian Head cent of 1859.’

On the three-dollar coin Liberty is wearing a feathered headdress of equal-sized plumes with a band bearing LIBERTY in raised letters. She’s surrounded by the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Such a headdress dates back to the earliest known drawings of American Indians. Longacre’s reverse depicted a wreath of tobacco, wheat, corn and cotton with a plant at top bearing two conical seed masses.

Very few mint state examples survive of any but the handful of relatively common dates such as 1878, is the most common date with an original mintage of 82,304.

Three Dollar Gold Prices

Click Here to View All Price Lists

Call Us at 866-765-3352 for Orders and Availability or Email Us using the form below.