So for those interested in buying one of these, look for a nice lusterous AU coin (it's a much better deal).

The price break between AU coins and higher grade MS coins is pretty steep with this series - with AU's going in the $200's, MS60 around $350, MS61-62 in the $600's, MS63 in the $1200's. (It helps that I do a lot of business there.) The dealer initially wanted $400 for this coin as he thought it was at least MS60, but I was able to negotiate it down to $275, when I convinced him that it might only grade AU. However I think it's pretty safe to say this is probably at least AU55 to 58 - although I am amazed at how clean the fields are. I think it's possible the raw coin I purchased might only grade AU even though the coin appears to have a lot of luster unless some of the lack of detail is from a weak stike (note the weak 1 in 1851).

The only other Dollar Gold coin I liked in the batch was an NGC MS63 for $1200, but that was too much money for a coin that is actually hard to see! And honestly the little raw coin I ended up buying looked just as nice to my eye. I stumbled across this raw Liberty Head Gold Dollar that had a ton of luster and looked very clean, tagged at $400. I was trying to find a good example of a One Dollar Gold coin from a batch of raw and third party graded coins at my local dealer this afternoon. The photo below shows the actual size of this tiny coin, alongside a Rosevelt dime that has a diameter of 17.9 mm.Ĭould you imagine a pocketful of these small gold coins? Trying to pick them out of your pocket lint? Or the sound they might make if a bunch of them fell on the floor? The Type 1 Liberty Head One Dollar Gold coin is the smallest diameter coin ever struck for circulation in the U.S. I just bought this 1851 One Dollar Gold coin - a type coin I have wanted for my collection for about 20 years!

Us 1 dollar gold coin