Heritage World Coin Auctions
FUN Signature US Coin Sale 1251 4-6 & 8-9 Jan 2017
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Proof Gold Dollars
1864 G$1 PR66 Deep Cameo PCGS. CAC. In their gold coin Encyclopedia, Garrett and Guth write of the 1864 proof: "The actual survival figure for the issue is probably under 20 coins." PCGS estimated a population of 17 to 22 pieces. In any respect, the proof 1864 gold dollar is extremely rare in any grade, with less than half of the 50-coin mintage known today. In fact, researchers have suggested that as many as 20 pieces may never have been distributed to collectors but were destroyed at the Mint. In the 1860s, the Mint would strike proofs in advance of sales, anticipating demand. In many cases, leftover proofs were destroyed or possibly paid out into circulation. Today, two examples are off of the market in the Smithsonian Institution, making the acquisition of a piece even more difficult.
Our Permanent Auction Archives show only nine previous appearances of an 1864 proof gold dollar. The finest coin therein was actually the present example in an earlier offering; graded PR66 Ultra Cameo NGC, this piece realized $32,200 in our October 2011 Pittsburgh Signature sale. Now crossed to PCGS, it remains among the finest proof 1864 gold dollars known and is plated on the PCGS CoinFacts website. Both sides are intensely contrasted, the reverse almost impeccably black and gold. The frosty zones are a pale yellow lighter than canary. The best pedigree markers are a pair of curving lint marks on the obverse under the portrait. Still the finest example that we have handled.
Ex: Pittsburgh Signature (Heritage, 10/2011), lot 4625.
From The Dale Friend Collection of 1864 Proof Coinage.
1864 G$1 PR66 Deep Cameo PCGS. CAC. In their gold coin Encyclopedia, Garrett and Guth write of the 1864 proof: "The actual survival figure for the issue is probably under 20 coins." PCGS estimated a population of 17 to 22 pieces. In any respect, the proof 1864 gold dollar is extremely rare in any grade, with less than half of the 50-coin mintage known today. In fact, researchers have suggested that as many as 20 pieces may never have been distributed to collectors but were destroyed at the Mint. In the 1860s, the Mint would strike proofs in advance of sales, anticipating demand. In many cases, leftover proofs were destroyed or possibly paid out into circulation. Today, two examples are off of the market in the Smithsonian Institution, making the acquisition of a piece even more difficult.
Our Permanent Auction Archives show only nine previous appearances of an 1864 proof gold dollar. The finest coin therein was actually the present example in an earlier offering; graded PR66 Ultra Cameo NGC, this piece realized $32,200 in our October 2011 Pittsburgh Signature sale. Now crossed to PCGS, it remains among the finest proof 1864 gold dollars known and is plated on the PCGS CoinFacts website. Both sides are intensely contrasted, the reverse almost impeccably black and gold. The frosty zones are a pale yellow lighter than canary. The best pedigree markers are a pair of curving lint marks on the obverse under the portrait. Still the finest example that we have handled.
Ex: Pittsburgh Signature (Heritage, 10/2011), lot 4625.
From The Dale Friend Collection of 1864 Proof Coinage.