1858 $1 J-224 (Proof)

David Akers (1975/88): Description: Obverse. Head of Liberty facing left wearing a feathered Indian headdress with LIBERTY inscribed on the band. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is around the head near the border. This is similar to the regular die except that the head is lower in the field and the letters of the legend are taller. Reverse. The denomination, 1 DOLLAR, and the date, 1858, are enclosed in a wreath. This design is similar to the regular die except that the letters of DOLLAR are taller and the numeral 1 of the denomination is a different shape.

Comments: This is one of two unique pattern gold dollars, the other being the 1872, J-1224. It was donated to the American Numismatic Society in 1908 by J.P. Morgan. Prior to being owned by Morgan, it had been in the collection of R.C. Brock of Philadelphia.

There are no specific auction records for this pattern and it was not listed by R. C. Davis or by Edgar Adams and William Woodin. (Adams and Woodin did list the copper trial piece of this pattern, however, and gave it the number 233.)

Howland Wood, in an article written in 1922, noted that J.C. Randall of Philadelphia owned a specimen of the pattern and indicated that it was probably included as part of the 1858 proof set that was sold with Randall's collection in 1882. This seems reasonable since the set, lot 472, brought $44.50, a figure significantly higher than the prices realized in that same sale by comparable proof sets. (For example, an 1859 proof set brought only $6.62.) Therefore, I have listed the Randall sale as a probable auction record for this pattern. Since there has never been even a hint of a second specimen, it is undoubtedly the Randall specimen that is now owned by the American Numismatic Society.