1856-S $3 Indian Princess Three Dollar, PCGS AU58 (CAC) - Rare Small S Variety

The production of this issue was extensively circulated in the bustling economy of the Western U.S. during the 1850s. Today this issue is difficult to find in a problem-free AU and extremely challenging to acquire in Mint State. This would be perfect for the numismatist who relishes elusive U.S. gold issues that would qualify for Registry Set entries.

The design upon the gold $3 gold piece obverse presents a head representing an Indian princess with her hair tightly curling upon her neck, her head adorned with a ring of feathers encircled with a band inscribed LIBERTY. Upon the field of the reverse is found a wreath of tobacco, wheat, corn, and cotton. Numismatic art scholar Cornelius Vermeule writes, "The 'princess'... is a banknote engraver's elegant version of folk art of the 1850s. The plumes or feathers are more like the crest of the Prince of Wales than anything that saw the Western frontiers, save perhaps on a music hall beauty. Iconographically this type of Indian maiden had occurred in American and 'primitive' paintings for many years past. The figureheads of ships and the sculptures before tobacconists' shops sported faces, tresses, and bonnets of this type."