1878 $3 Indian Princess Three Dollars, PCGS AU58 (CAC)

We at AUCM are delighted to present for consideration a Great Type Coin: an 1878 $3 Indian Princess, graded PCGS AU58 (CAC). Ron Guth tells us that "the 1878 is the most common date in the entire series of Three Dollar Gold pieces, and it is the most common by a wide margin over the 1854 and 1874." That is what makes it an affordable option and a Great Type Coin! He also tells us, "The 1878 is known for its frosty luster which, on high grade pieces, has a shimmering effect that is simply lovely. The strike is usually good, but sometimes weak on the knot at the base of the wreath." Collectors of iconic American Indian imagery on coins would love a specimen such as this.

The design upon the gold $3 gold piece obverse presents a head representing an Indian princess with her hair tightly curling upon her neck, her head adorned with a ring of feathers encircled with a band inscribed LIBERTY. Upon the field of the reverse is found a wreath of tobacco, wheat, corn, and cotton. 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."