1854 G$1 Indian Princess Gold Dollar, Type 2 PCGS MS64

Collectors simply love the gold Indian Princess design crafted by James B. Longacre, for its beauty, grace, and simplicity. PCGS has awarded the grade of MS64 to 218 examples with 81 finer. David Bowers tells us that the gold Type 2 gold dollar of 1854-1856 is the key to a gold dollar type set, that collector demand for this specific type has pushed prices upwards. Bowers writes, "In absolute terms, the gold dollars of this type are not rare, but in relative terms, there is such an extensive demand for coins of this design that market activity is intense."

Artist James B. Longacre, who crafted the beautiful Indian Princess design. Photo: wikipedia.

Numismatic art scholar Cornelius Vermeule writes, "The 'princess'... is a banknote engraver's elegant version of folk art of the 1850s. The plumes or feathers are more like the crest of the Prince of Wales than anything that saw the Western frontiers, save perhaps on a music hall beauty. Iconographically this type of Indian maiden had occurred in American and 'primitive' paintings for many years past. The figureheads of ships and the sculptures before tobacconists' shops sported faces, tresses, and bonnets of this type."