I can't say "Thank you" enough for all the help the gold experts have been on here. I keep diving into areas that I am not familiar with and hope to eventually and literally "strike gold." What are your thoughts on this piece? This will be my last gold piece for now. I am becoming skeptical of everything I see...
I have been scouring the internet for information, but books are a good idea. I prefer silver coinage (probably due to cost), but recently decided to look for deals on gold. Your advice is good.
The 1873 and 1874 gold dollars were carelessly made in my opinion. The pieces from the 1880s are much nicer, partly because the mintages were much lower. Years ago, I read that the mint was trying to revive the popularity of the gold dollar. There were also concerns that having gold dollars in different sizes, 13 and 15 mm, was a problem. A large number of Type I gold dollars were pulled in, melted and turned into the 1873 and '74 dollars. It didn't help. The coin didn't circulate, and the mintages were very limited after that. Here's an 1880 gold dollar. The mintage was only 1,600 pieces, which prompts a lot of collectors to go after it. It's not as rare as it might seem because the survival ratio was high. There are probably about 950 of them left, mostly in Mint State. This one is graded MS-65.
