The gold dollar was a United States dollar coin produced from 1849 to 1889. Composed of 90% pure gold, it was the smallest denomination of gold currency ever produced by the United States federal government. When the US system of coinage was originally designed there had been no plans for a gold dollar coin, but in the late 1840s, two gold rushes later, Congress was looking to expand the use of gold in the country’s currency. The gold dollar was ...
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The gold dollar was a United States dollar coin produced from 1849 to 1889. Composed of 90% pure gold, it was the smallest denomination of gold currency ever produced by the United States federal government. When the US system of coinage was originally designed there had been no plans for a gold dollar coin, but in the late 1840s, two gold rushes later, Congress was looking to expand the use of gold in the country’s currency. The gold dollar was authorized by the Act of March 3, 1849, and the Liberty Head type began circulating soon afterward. Because of the high value of gold, the gold dollar is the second smallest coin in the history of US coinage, after the silver three cent piece.
The gold dollar had its origins more than a decade before the Act of March 3, in the Carolina Gold Rush of the 1830s. The sudden availability of gold caused the US government to make several changes to its coinage system. Gold coins were minted in considerably larger quantities, and new mints were opened...
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