1849-O G$1 Liberty Head Gold Dollar PCGS MS64

Historic First-Year New Orleans Gold Dollar Issue!

Here is a simply beautiful specimen of the first gold dollar struck at the New Orleans Mint with its distinctive ‘O’ mintmark. It is also the first year of the popular $1 Gold piece that was only produced from 1849 to 1889. When you buy this coin, you get two ‘firsts’ in one great coin! PCGS has graded 22 with the grade of MS64 with 14 finer.

This piece is well-struck and lustrous. The iconic Liberty head design on the gold dollar was employed as the model for many varieties of the ubiquitous California Fractional Gold series that saw production mostly in San Francisco beginning in 1852.

Doug Winter writes, “The 1849-O is popular due to its status as the first gold dollar from the New Orleans mint.” Of the luster, Winter writes, “Some 1849-O gold dollars are seen with semi-prooflike luster and a few are fairly reflective. The luster on the obverse is generally better than that on the reverse.”

The New Orleans Mint in a postcard from 1907. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.