1852 Proof Dollar Pattern - J-140

Coin Details

Auction Record

$15,600 PR66 06-21-2024 Stack's Bowers

Description

Judd-140 (Pollock-167, Low R.7) is one of the more visually distinctive annular dollar patterns, struck in copper-nickel on a ring-shaped planchet with a plain edge. The obverse carries the abbreviated legend USA above and the date 1852 below the central opening. The reverse features a circle of olive sprigs. The annular dollar concept was among the most inventive proposed solutions to the problem of the inconveniently small gold dollar. At just 13mm in diameter, the regular-issue Type I gold dollar was easily lost and difficult to handle, yet it represented a full day's wages for many workers. By perforating the center, the Mint could produce a coin with a substantially larger overall diameter without increasing the metal content. In the end, practicality won out over innovation: the gold dollar was simply made larger and thinner with the Type II design introduced in 1854, while the silver coinage crisis was resolved by reducing subsidiary coin weights in 1853. The copper-nickel composition of this particular striking indicates it was a metallic trial, testing how the design would appear and strike in an alternative alloy.