1856-S/S Gold Dollar. Type II. FS-501. Repunched Mintmark. MS-63 (PCGS). Charming frosty to semi-reflective surfaces with vivid wheat-gold color throughout. This is an uncommonly well produced Type II gold dollar, the devices boldly to sharply defined to include a full date in the center of the reverse. Clash marks are few in number and extremely faint, adding to an overall smooth and inviting appearance that is strongly suggestive of an even higher Choice Mint State grade.<p>The 1856-S is the final issue in the brief Type II gold dollar series, the only one coined at the San Francisco Mint, and the only one dated 1856. (The Philadelphia and Dahlonega gold dollars of 1856 both employed the new Type III design.) Far scarcer in all grades than the 1855-O, the 1856-S has a mintage of 24,600 pieces as opposed to 55,000 coins for its New Orleans Mint predecessor. The 1856-S is rare in Mint State grades, with the top certified grade being MS-65+ at PCGS. As one of the finest examples that we have offered in recent memory, the importance of this bidding opportunity for advanced gold specialists cannot be overstated.<p>In addition to its rarity in high grades, the 1856-S is known for a dramatic repunched mintmark variety, which comprises approximately half of the known survivors. As seen on the present example, bold remnants of the secondary S are evident above and to the right of the primary mintmark. There is also an arcing die cracks (as made) that passes just south of center on the obverse - a feature we have seen on other examples of this attribution. PCGS# 145703. NGC ID: 25C8. PCGS Population (all varieties of the issue): 7; 9 finer (MS-65+ finest).
