1856-D $1.00 NGC MS62 Duke's Creek

Duke's Creek Collection pedigree. Only 1,460 1856-D gold dollars were struck and this is the third rarest date of this denomination from Dahlonega, trailing only the 1861-D and 1855-D. In high grades, it is the second rarest, trailing only the 1855-D. There are just four or five known in Uncirculated and the present example, pedigreed to the famous Duke's Creek collection, is the first to be available to collectors in close to four years. This very appealing example is well-known within the specialist community on account of its flashy deep orange-gold color which highlights the obverse and the reverse. The underlying surfaces are clean save for a pair of shallow blunt marks in the left field and the strike is better than average for the issue with a nearly full date (the 5 is slightly weak) and a bold mintmark. As on all known examples, the U in UNITED is barely visible. The current high grade population for the 1856-D gold dollar is two in MS62 with none better at PCGS and one in MS62 (this coin) with one better (an MS63) at NGC. There are two auction records for PCGS MS62's at over $40,000 (Green Pond: 1009 brought $47,150 in 2004 and ANR 9/03: 425 was bid to $41,400). With the market for high end Dahlonega rarities seemingly as strong as it has been for at least five years, this coin is fairly priced and it represents the chance for the serious gold dollar collector to acquire a famous example of a famous, legitimately rare date.

From the Duke's Creek collection (Heritage 4/06), Lot 1488, where it sold for $40,250