Some Facts About The Gold Dollar

The gold dollar finds its origins back in the 1830s during the Carolina Gold Rush, when a German immigrant named Alt Christoph Bechtler or Christopher Bechtler came up with the idea of making the exchange by offering gold coins instead of raw gold. Bechtler issued gold coins by making his own equipment and presses, thus producing the first gold dollars in the United States.
The gold dollars were produced from 1849 to 1889, being the smallest coin in the history of United States and having a composition of 90% pure gold. Several types of gold dollars were produced in order to correspond to the standards and the needs of the people.
In 1849 the Gold Rush that sparked in California determined the government to authorize the production of golden dollars. The United States' Mint's chief engraver named James Barton Longacre was assigned to design the new gold coins.
The first type of dollar represented Liberty's head. This first type of gold dollars named "Liberty Head" faced the portrait of Liberty, wearing a small crown on her head with the inscription of the word "Liberty" and being encircled by 13 stars representing the 13 initial colonies. On the back of the gold coins were inscribed the date and the value of the coins.
This first type of dollar was minted between 1849 and 1854, being the smallest in the United States' coinage history having a diameter of 13 millimeters. This fact determined critics such as those regarding the small size and the fact that they can be easily lost. Therefore, new designs have been issued as a response to these objections.
The second type of dollars was the "Indian Head" which had an increased diameter up to 15 millimeters but having the same weight and composition as the first. Between 1854 and 1856 the coin depicted the head of an Indian princess being called the "Small Head" and starting from 1856 up to 1889 the coin was known as the "Large Head", the size of the Indian head being increased.
All these three types of precious metal dollars had wreaths applied on them which represented wheat, corn, cotton and tobacco being encircled by "United States of America" inscription. Moreover, the reverse of all these three types carried the inscription of the date and the value of the coin.
At the beginning, the production of gold dollars reached the highest values. Between 1856 and 1862 the production per year exceeded a million. After that, it started to lower until 1889 when the mints were extremely rare.



The most common and traditional way to Buy Gold is by investing in small bars or coins.