Liberty Head Dollar coin (Type 1 Gold dollar): 1849-1854

The gold dollar coin (Type 1 Gold dollar) or also known as Liberty Head Dollar, made its debut in 1849 and continued to be produced until 1854. Initially, US Mint has no interest of producing gold coin but 2 gold rushes that took place during that time had enticed US Mint into using gold in the country's currency.

Liberty Head Dollar started its circulation right after it was authorized by the Act of March 3, 1849. The obverse of the Liberty Head Dollar depicts the head of Miss Liberty facing left, wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY with 13 stars encircling her and her hair tied at the back. The reverse of Liberty Head Dollar depicts a wreath open at the top enclosing the date and the numeral 1 (1 dollar value), encircled by the inscription that reads "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA".

Weighing 1.672 grams and measuring just 13 mm in diameter, the coin had a composition of 0.900 gold (0.04837 ounces of pure gold) and 0.100 copper. The gold dollar that were produced over the period of 1849 to 1854 is the smallest United States coin. It was even smaller than the 14 mm silver 3 cent piece. The quantity of gold dollar minted differed from year to year and during in 1853 alone, 4,384,149 Liberty Head Dollar coins were successfully minted and circulated.

Because the nature of Liberty Head Dollar coin that was too small, it could easily be lost and US Mint began experimenting new designs with several ideas thrown to US Mint for consideration. One of the ideas was to make a hole at the middle of the coin but the idea was rejected. The new Mint director in 1953, James Snowden, simply made the Liberty Head Dollar coin to be thinner and wider. The new dollar also received new face-lifts with the new design was made by James Longacre.

Rare dates in this series include the 1849-C with an Open Wreath on the reverse.

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