I was perusing the current Heritage auction and placing a bid or two when I ran upon this. As I understand it, this was a pattern dollar and I just found it intriguing as could be. Apparently the small size of a gold dollar made them too easy to lose, so this was a proposed pattern to address the problem. And it brought a question to mind that I had been wanting to ask. If a coin has been given a Hewitt Judd number, that immediately classifies the coin as a pattern, correct? I believe that to be the case but I am not as studied on patterns as I should be. This photo is courtesy of Heritage.
Interesting "pattern". I've never seen it. Thanks for posting. Here is a PCGS PR66 CAC version for sale on APMEX for nearly $20K!!! https://www.apmex.com/product/186667/1852-1-pattern-gold-dollar-pr-66-pcgs-cac-j-140 How was the bidding going on Heritage for the one you pictured?
It didn't have any bids yet. They had two of them. And considering the one you showed from Apmex is 20k, I am pretty sure I won't be bidding on them. But what a cool idea. And if you lose a manifold gasket washer. Problem solved.
Yeah, it was a cool idea. Shame it never took off. Holding a dollar gold coin, and understanding how much money that was back then, sure makes you understand why they weren't popular. Way too tiny.
Yeah, just imagine a coin the same size today with a $100 face value. I wouldn't be eager to carry them around. Heck, I had enough of a hard time trying to keep track of two damaged gold dollars in individual flips.
