1 Stella / 4 Dollars '1880 Stella' Pattern, gold

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.