Essentially Perfect - Struck from Proof Dies
Dannreuther MS-1 : John Dannreuther’s JD-1 proof die pair, but here used for the business strike issue. Widely repunched date, with the first date punched counterclockwise such that remnants of the 1 and 8 show well below the final digits.
While the Mint struck 1,006 proof gold dollars in 1884 in addition to the 5,230 business strikes, this oversized proof production was not due to sudden collector demand, but for the recent fashion of using small gold coins in jewelry. And as all known proofs of this issue are struck from this die pair, it continued in striking some of the 5,230 non-proofs.
This appears to be from an earlier state of the proof die pair as business strike dies, as the later loss of detail from excess die polishing as noted by Dannreuther is not present. Some faint, orbital polishing lines are visible above Liberty’s hair and under Liberty’s chin, and the surfaces are decidedly proof like, such that this coin may have once been confused as a proof striking. However, it is not. Instead, it is the finest known business strike for this date, and possibly one of the two finest known examples of the Type 3 Gold Dollar type.
How can we describe perfection for a coin that offers no compromise? The fields are planar and the devices are finely detailed and struck in bold relief. Color is a light honey gold, and the surfaces are clear from even the most trivial of abrasion. This is the singular finest, the only 1884 Gold Dollar certified as MS69 by PCGS, and one of only two in the entire type included in the CAC Census as MS69.
PCGS #36332299
Provenance
Tom Bender; Heritage “The Bender Family Collection, Part I”, August 2022, lot 3850 at $132,000 as PCGS/CAC MS69; “The Black Cat Collection” by William Anderson.