This series, Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest United States Coins, features several rare and unique coins. All of them deserve the title, but some deserve it more. In today’s case, this extremely rare (and we mean rare) gold coin has earned a top 25 slot for its mystery and illusive nature. Author Jeff Garrett helps us to understand more about the coin in our blog series covering the compilations.
#22 – 1870-S Indian Princess Head $3 Gold Piece
The 1870-S $3 gold piece remains one of the biggest rarities in Unites States coinage. When it was created, dies for each of the branch mints were processed at the Philadelphia Mint. There, mintmarks were added before the dies shipped out to their respective locations. During this process for the 1870 $3 gold coin, two of the dies were sent to San Francisco without the mintmarks. Then superintendent of the San Francisco Mint, General O.H. LaGrange, was put in a difficult situation as he needed an 1870-S coin to place in the foundation of the new San Francisco Mint that was under construction. He was told to return the dies to Philadelphia so that the mintmarks could be properly added. However, LaGrange took matters into his own hands and had coiner J.B. Harmstead engrave a small ‘S’ to the bottom of the reverse. This allowed for the production of a legal tender coin (in a general sense) and they were then able to use it for the “ceremonial laying of the cornerstone.”
Afterwards, LaGrange returned the dies as ordered with a note that explained the ‘S’ that was engraved and the reasoning. It turns out though, that Harmstead did not strike just one of them, but both 1870-S $3 gold pieces. In 1911, a second coin appeared on the market as part of William H. Woodin’s collection. Woodin was the secretary of the Treasury later on and was the coauthor of a book that talked about United States patterns. It was used as a jewelry piece by the previous owners but by 1911, it was returned to its natural state and sold at auction for $11,500 despite its flaws. It ended up in the Louis Eliasberg collection, who to this day owned the only complete collection of U.S. coins. In 1982, the $3 gold piece sold from the collection for $687,500. It is now on display at the American Numismatic Association’s Money Museum in Colorado Springs as part of the Harry W. Bass Jr. Reference Collection.
In 1960, the 1870-S Indian Princess Head $3 Gold Piece in a Very Fine condition was valued at $25,000. By this fourth edition (2015), the coin increased to an approximate value of $5 million.
