1886 G$1 Indian Princess Gold Dollar PCGS PR65CAM

Here's a real stunner for the specialist in Indian Princess gold coinage. Numismatists just love the "Indian princess" gold dollars. Whether you are a specialist in this series or not, if you are putting together a type set of U.S. gold, adding an "Indian princess" would be a great idea. This proof issue has a total mintage of 1,016. PCGS has graded only 24 in Cameo. Of those, there are 7 in PR65CAM with 9 finer. The Collectors Universe PCGS price guide is $14,750.

Ostrich feather Badge of the Prince of Wales. According to scholar Conelius Vermeule, the feathers on the Indian Princess coins resemble those of the crest of the Prince of Wales. Image: wikipedia.

The design upon the $1 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."