US One Dollar Gold Liberty Head (Fakes are possible) 1849 to 1854

These teensy one dollar gold coins are really cool. Valuable, too. Bill's 1853 date is the most common, but catalog values are still respectable:

worn: $200
average circulated: $225
well preserved: $250
fully uncirculated: $350

Some mint marked coins are worth substantially more ~~ see below.

Recall these are catalog values and are inflated. See our Important Terminology page for details.

Bill, I am sorry to report that your piece, being soldered, carries no collector value at all. It is worth bullion value. You can figure the basic bullion value of the gold content by multiplying the current price of gold by 0.0484; there are 0.0484 troy ounces of gold in one of these coins. For instance, if the price of gold is $1100 per troy ounce (use kitco.com to look it up; it changes daily), then the base value is 0.0484 x 1100 = $53 US dollars.

Now there's a kicker with Liberty head one dollar gold pieces: the mint mark. If there is a C or D mint mark (look under the wreath), the value goes WAY up. An O mint mark is the same as Bill's coin with no mint mark: $200 in average circulated condition.

Even in worn condition, catalog values for C (Charlotte) and D (Dahlonega) coins are well above $1000. In average circulated condition these coins catalog around $2000. Even without a C or D mint mark, it is a good idea to take your gold dollar to a knowledgeable collector or a coin dealer for an in-person appraisal.

In addition to Liberty head gold dollars, there are also Indian Princess Head gold dollars minted between 1854 and 1889. You can see our appraisal page for Princesses at this CoinQuest link. As with all valuable coins, you must recognize that counterfeits exist. This picture shows a fake US $1 gold piece. It is an obvious replica, not the real thing. Many counterfeits are not obvious at all. See this page for a discussion of counterfeits.
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