Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Stella / 4 Dollars '1880 Stella' Pattern, gold
| Issuer | United States Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1880 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Stella = 4 Dollars (4 USD) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Draped bust of Liberty facing left, hair elaborately coiled and bound, wearing a coronet. The rim bears a raised legend detailing the coin's metallic composition in abbreviated form, reading '★6★G★.3★S★.7★C★7★G★R★A★M★S★', with the date 1880 at the lower rim. The word LIBERTY appears on the coronet. The design is executed in the refined neoclassical style characteristic of Morgan's engraving work of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ★6★G★.3★S★.7★C★7★G★R★A★M★S★ LIBERTY 1880 (Translation: 6 grams gold, 0.3 grams silver, 0.7 grams copper, 7 grams weight) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Stella was never intended for circulation — it was a proposal coin, championed primarily by John Kasson, U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary, who argued America needed a gold piece compatible with European metric coinage systems. Congress never approved it. The 1880 issue exists in two hair types, flowing and coiled, produced in tiny quantities almost certainly for distribution to congressmen and influential collectors rather than any genuine monetary trial.
Judd-1660 designates the coiled-hair variety, attributed to Charles Barber. Surviving examples routinely show the reflective surfaces of pieces that never saw a pocket.