The Liberty Head Dollar, also known as the Type I dollar, was a gold dollar coin minted from 1849 to 1854. The Liberty Head Dollar was designed by James B. Longacre and was the first gold dollar produced by the US mint. The coin depicts Liberty's head facing left wearing a coronet. She is circled by thirteen stars. The reverse is very simple, it features the denomination and date of the coin encircled by a wreath. The coin contains .05 ounces of real gold.
The coin was initially minted in Philadelphia and Dahlonega. San Francisco, Charlotte and New Orleans also minted Liberty Head Dollars. There were just over 500,000 coins minted in 1849, this number grew to over 4 million in 1854. The coin was short lived because of its extremely small size (smallest coin in US history, smaller than the present day dime) and high value. The coin was easy lost and this brought outcry from the public. The coin was redesigned starting and minting ended in 1854.
