1 Dollar '1852 Gold Dollar' Pattern, copper-nickel

Judd-148 belongs to a cluster of 1852 pattern dollars produced as the Mint explored alternatives to the small, easily lost gold dollar then in circulation. Treasury and Mint officials were fielding complaints almost immediately after the Type 1 gold dollar launched in 1849 — the coin was simply too small for practical use. These copper-nickel patterns tested both a larger diameter and a cheaper base-metal composition as a potential substitute or parallel coinage.

The nickel experiments of 1852 did not result in immediate coinage reform, but they fed directly into the eventual 1857 Flying Eagle cent and later nickel coinage debates. Survivorship for Judd-148 is extremely limited.