All Proof gold coins struck prior to the Civil War are very rare and the 1858 gold dollar is no exception. The exact mintage figure for Proofs of this year is not known but it is reliably estimated to be in the range of 20 to 30 coins of which around half are known today. There are probably five or six Gems of which the finest is a remarkable NGC PR67 Ultra Cameo which brought $92,000 in Stack’s 11/09 sale.

This example is bright and reflective with strong cameo contrast between the frosted devices and the mirror fields. There are no hairlines of note in the fields but a few tiny mint-made lintmarks can be seen on the obverse with the most obvious of these located right in front of Liberty’s lips. If this were a common date Proof gold dollar from the 1880′s, it might well have been graded a full PR65 Cameo.

There have been just two auctions records for 1858 PCGS PR64 CAM gold dollars in the last decade: this coin (see below) and an example sold by Heritage in July 2009. The last record for a PCGS PR65 CAM is $37,375, set by Heritage 8/10: 3393.

The opportunities to purchase a borderline Gem example of Proof gold from the 1850′s are far and few between, especially when the coin in question is as choice and full of “pizzazz” as this example.

Ex Heritage 1/13: 6841, where it sold for $22,325