US One Dollar Gold Indian Princess (Fakes are possible) 1854 to 1889

Hi Rickey -- These are wonderful, tiny gold coins minted by the US government from 1854 to 1889. The coin in our picture is especially nice looking, so it will command good value. Coins with less eye appeal will be worth far less. But, remember:

NEVER CLEAN A COIN. CLEANING RUINS VALUE.

The Red Book, a popular US price guide, lists these coins as follows:

worn: $150 US dollars
average circulated: $250
well preserved: $300
fully uncirculated (like our picture): $500

These are catalog values for common date coins. Actual values will be less, as described on our Important Terminology page. There are many special dates, see below. If you have one of these coins, take it to a knowledgeable collector or a coin dealer for an in-person appraisal.

You can figure the basic value of the gold content by mulitplying 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.

The values above are for coins with common dates, which are most dates in the series. In general, if a coin has a C or D mint mark, it is worth somewhat more than a common date coin. There are a few *better dates* which command significantly higher value. The list below gives approximate catalog values for better dates and mint marks in average circulated condition:

1855C: $4000
1855D: $12000
1856D: $6000
1858D: $2000
1860D: $4200
1861D: $22000
1875: $4500

In addition to these Princess Head gold dollars, there are also Liberty Head gold dollars minted between 1849 and 1854. You can see our appraisal page for the Libs at this CoinQuest link. A discussion of counterfeits appears here.
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