The offered 1854-D is a pleasing, deep yellow-gold specimen of this well-respected rarity. Lively luster shines forth throughout, especially among the design motifs and sheltered surface areas. The satiny surfaces are somewhat frosty and very attractive for the assigned grade. No marks of any consequence can be seen with the unaided eye, and even low magnification brings forth not a solitary mark that warrants individual description. There are some scattered tiny surface marks, none of which have any great effect on the overall quality. A tiny reverse toning fleck is noted at the cotton leaf at 10:00. Struck from clashed dies with evidence of the reverse wreath present at Liberty’s neckline while, at the center of the reverse wreath, a reversed impression of Liberty’s portrait is seen. The overall impression from the dies is crisp on both sides, especially so for the date. The tops of the feathers of Miss Liberty’s headdress are nearly complete, as are her hair details. On the reverse Longacre’s wreath design is bold with even the tiniest details present. As seen on nearly all genuine 1854-D $3 gold pieces, the edge reeding is light in places, especially at the top of the obverse, though the tab of the PCGS holder covers that area of the present specimen. Also in keeping with virtually every known example of the date, there is softness throughout the dentils that ranges clockwise from a point just above U on the obverse and ending at a point just past the final A in AMERICA. The reverse dentils are soft in places as well. One may be able to imagine a finer specimen than the present coin, but it is unlikely that such an example will ever be seen. Located not far from the western end of North Carolina, the Dahlonega region experienced a significant gold rush in the 1820s. Native gold from the area was made into coins by Templeton Reid of Georgia who struck $2.50, $5, and $10 pieces dated 1830 and to a far greater extent by the Christopher Bechtler family from 1831 to 1852, though only one of their issues in all that time was actually dated; it bore the date August 1, 1834 to show it conformed to the recently adopted weight standards set forth by the U.S. Mint. After nearly a decade of private coinage in the South, the U.S. government saw a need for more than just the Mint in Philadelphia. Accordingly, three branch mints were opened in early 1838, one in Charlotte, North Carolina, another in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the third in Dahlonega. The mints at Charlotte and Dahlonega produced only gold coins through 1861, when both mints were closed at the outbreak of the Civil War. New Orleans struck only silver coins until 1840 when it too began producing gold coins. The branch mint at Dahlonega, Georgia struck 1,120 $3 gold pieces in 1854, the first and only year that the facility produced the denomination. The entire production run for this rarity was accomplished in August from one die pair and most of the mintage passed into circulation. None are known to have been saved purposefully by a numismatist, and not even the curators of the Mint Cabinet showed an interest in obtaining an example. As a result, the typical 1854-D $3 is a well-circulated VF coin. Many of the 120 to 160 or so survivors estimated to exist today have been cleaned or otherwise harmed. Any example even approaching Mint State can be considered a truly special coin. At the Uncirculated level, as here, it is a major U.S. gold rarity. Advanced cabinets of Indian Princess $3 gold pieces are often judged by the overall quality of the 1854-D issue. A Chapman brothers listing at lot 334 in their December 1897 sale noted: “1854. Dahlonega Mint. Very Fine. Extremely rare. Probably not over six known.” Among the most famous $3 Indian Princess collections to cross the auction block was the Richard Jewell Collection, offered by American Numismatic Rarities in May 2005. The Richard Jewell 1854-D was a PCGS-certified AU-58 coin that still ranks among the finest examples of the date extant. The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection, Part II, sold by Bowers and Merena in October 1999, offered a pleasing AU-55 PCGS-certified example of the date. The Pogue Collection coin is far and away the most widely heralded example. The present 1854-D $3 reflects the care of selection that makes the D. Brent Pogue Collection so special. It is believed that fewer than a half dozen examples of this rarity can accurately be called Mint State today, and of those pieces, the Pogue Collection coin is the finest seen by PCGS. NGC lists a solitary Mint State-62 coin in their Census. PCGS# 7970. NGC ID: 25M4.
