1860-S $3 Indian Princess Three Dollar NGC AU58

With an original mintage of 7,000, this issue began its numismatic life as a rarity. Out of only three San Francisco Mint issues of the gold $3 dollar (1854-1889), this date has the lowest mintage by far. Plus it is close to the top of the pop. In NGC, there are 19 in AU58 with just 2 finer. In PCGS there are 12 in AU58, with only 6 finer.

Cornelius Vermeule writes that "sculptures before tobacconists' shops sported faces, tresses, and bonnets of this type." Here is a 19th century artifact from Seattle.

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."