When the UK ruled the waves and world trade, British money became the monetary lingua franca.
Now, the dollar is the language of the global economy.
Imperial power makes your money the business of the world. Image Library of Congress.
For the moment.
The US dollar was first minted in 1794.
Some dollars are extremely rare and valuable: the coin has been high-value and made of precious metals, and the stuff of everyday life.
Some tick the boxes to become collector’s items: through error or withdrawal they might be rare.
History plays its part too - sometimes the US economy simply didn’t need that much hard cash injected.
The dollar has had many faces.
Here they all are:
The Flowing Hair Silver Dollar
Looking forward to a bright future, Liberty is surrounded by 15 stars representing the 15 states of this new nation.
Rare, rare, rare and regularly a record breaker, the “flowing hair dollar” is distinguished by being first (always beloved of collectors) and short-lived.
The birthing of the US currency took some time. While the new nation waited to finalise producing its own coins commerce had to go on, and a variety of coins from previous colonial powers (Britian, France, Spain particularly) were accepted because of their intrinsic gold value.
A mint was recommended and legislated for in 1791, authorized by more legislation in 1792, and finally, dollars - based on Spanish coins - were minted in 1794.
This was the flowing hair dollar. Robert Scot designed the coin, and the flowing hair of its name is on the bust of the embodied “liberty”.
A number of production issues meant very small numbers of different design tests were produced.
At most around 200,000 were struck before the design was withdrawn and replaced.
They have been collected since they were issued, are extremely rare and very valuable.
The best known example was auctioned for over $10 million in 2013.
The Draped Bust Dollar
A 1796 Draped Bust Dollar shows the sharpness of the new design well.
Out with flowing hair and in with the draped bust in 1795.
A new mint director, Henry William the Saussure, was appointed for 1795 and he may have wished to stamp his own mark on the operation. There was also some criticism of the flowing hair design, which was thought to be beautiful but perhaps not robust enough for circulating coinage.
The visible design difference that names the coin is the addition of a ribbon through the hair of Liberty.
The artist is unknown, but was probably painter Gilbert Stuart. A Philadelphia socialite named Ann Willing Bingham may have been the model for Liberty.
Early mint records can be spotty, so there are some uncertainties around the production of early Draped Bust Dollars.
We do know that the mint was struggling to source silver, and production was artificially limited by this. We’re looking at figures of maybe 42,000 in 1795, just under 80,000 in 1796, and just 7,776 in 1797.
The design changed in 1798 with the initial rather realistic bald eagle being replaced with the heraldic-style bird used on US seals and coats of arms.
To add to the scarcity of these coins (which were minted in low annual figures until production ceased entirely), many were shipped to China where there was a huge demand for silver bullion. Most would have been melted down.
An 1801 Draped Bust Dollar was sold for $350,000 in 2013.
The 1804 Draped Bust Dollar of 1834
The 1804 dollar wasn't struck until the 1830s and was meant for the equivalent of a star's red-carpet gift basket designed to make friends for the US.
This is a special issue coin, and the among the most famous and valuable American numismatic rarities.
They were struck in 1834 but dated 1804, the last date that dollars had been struck when these coins were minted.
Proof sets of US coins were made to be given as gifts by American diplomatic envoys seeking supporters and trade deals for their still new country.
As few as 15 were made in total and not all have survived.
The Sultan of Muscat copy was sold for $7.7 million in 2021.
The Gobrecht Dollar
You can clearly see the engraver's name here. Perhaps too clearly.
Dollar production restarted in 1836 with another short-lived design made by engraver Christian Gobrecht to designs by Titian Peale and Thomas Sully.
Unfortunately, Gobrecht signed his name too prominently, so a quick change was needed, producing another rarity.
The Gobrecht engraving of the seated figure of Liberty had a longer life than this coin.
This rarity makes this run, produced from 1836 to 1839, very sought-after and one has sold for just short of $300,000.
The Seated Liberty Dollar
Changes were made to the previous design to produce one of the longest-lasting US dollars.
Liberty takes a seat in this design that was really the first long-lasting dollar, produced from 1840 to 1873.
Gobrecht’s earlier design was adapted for the obverse, but the reverse looked back to the earlier heraldic eagle used from 1807 (Gobrecht had riveted to a soaring bird).
The California Gold Rush caused a glut of that metal and a rise in value of silver that saw many early Seated Liberty coins melted for their bullion value.
These dollars were also struck in New Orleans from 1846, and, from 1866 were the first US dollars to include the emblematic phrase, “In God We trust,” in response to pleas from a clergyman.
In 1873, production of the Seated Liberty dollar was stopped.
Although it was produced in large quantities over its lifetime, some years of the Seated Liberty Dollar are rare. The first year, 1840, was something of a test, and fluctuations in gold and silver prices also produced dry years, like the 1,300 struck in 1851 and 1,100 made in 1852.
The most valuable Seated Liberty Dollar was an 1866 type that was struck without the “In God We Trust” motto. It sold for $1.2 million. In 2003 a rare San Francisco-struck dollar with an 1870 date made over $1 million at auction.
Trade Dollar
Putting the weight of silver on the coin helps it become an international currency.
Trade coins are an instrument of macroeconomic foreign policy. They’re struck by a government in order to use bullion reserves to buy goods outside their territory using differentials in price to get more value for money. They are often not legal tender in their home country.
The US trade dollar was introduced in 1873, with the Coinage Act that also ended production of the Seated Liberty dollar.
Many were used to make purchases from China, but, with silver being so valuable, they also started to appear in the US, and were demonetized in 1876 to preserve their purchasing power overseas.
Production ended in 1878, with proof coins being produced until 1883. Some proof coins had alternate designs.
The coin showed a seated Liberty, sitting on bales of goods in front of a sheaf of wheat. All US coins carried a bald eagle.
In China the coins were called the “Eagle Trade Dollar” and were accepted with the help of an Imperial decree guaranteeing their quality.
They are now rare and can be expensive. An 1885 Trade Dollar was auctioned for $3.9 million in 2019.
The Morgan Dollar
Anna Willess Williams was reportedly not keen to model for Morgan. She did, and became one of the best-known faces in the world as a result.
Morgan dollars are amongst the most well-known and most well-regarded dollars.
They were introduced in 1878 and struck until 1904, with another year of production in 1921.
The design is by George T Morgan, and shows Anna Willess Williams modelling Lady Liberty. Morgan believed Williams (who was a writer and teacher) had the most perfect profile he had ever seen.
The US government started buying silver to turn into coins from 1890 (rather than accepting deposits from individuals, which were then coined). The practice continued until 1898, when Congress ordered that all remaining silver be coined but not replenished.
Silver Reserves ran out in 1904 and Morgan dollar production ended until 1921 when large numbers of silver dollars were called in and recoined after the end of World War I.
A commemorative issue was made from 2021.
Morgan dollars were struck in very large numbers but have still become popular with collectors who love seeking out errors, proofs, peculiarities and rare years.
In 2024 an unusual 1895 proof sold for $324,000. Other examples of rare Morgans have regularly gone for over $0.5 million and the record for the coin is the $2 million paid for an 1893 San Francisco mint striking.
The Peace Dollar
Teresa de Francisci, who inspired this Liberty, had been greatly struck by the appearance of the Statue of Liberty when she arrived in the US from Italy.
Peace is precious indeed, and in 1921 the United States proposed to celebrate the end of World War I and address a coin shortage caused by measures to help the war-ravaged UK economy recover with a new coin.
A competition was held to find a design, and Anthony de Francisci won, using his wife Teresa as an inspiration for the figure of Liberty.
Liberty is depicted opposite a bald eagle, this one not heraldic and holding an olive branch. At the eagle’s feet is the world PEACE.
An initial issue with the original design also showing a broken sword was withdrawn because it was perceived as defeatist.
The coin was struck from 1921 to 1928 then again in 1934 and 1935. A 1964 - 65 restrike was abandoned and the coins reportedly melted.
The Peace Dollar was the last silver dollar intended to be used as a circulation coin. In fact, the world of precious coins was ending, and many Peace dollars remained in bank vaults unless they were purchased as special gifts.
They did circulate somewhat in the west of the country, where the frontier spirit was alive enough to encourage a distrust of paper money. That also inspired the 1964 proposed reused of the design for millions of dollars that were meant to pass over the tables of Nevada’s casinos. As they immediately became more valuable as collector’s coins, the issue was abandoned.
A centenary issue was made in 2021.
Peace dollars exist in huge numbers, so only errors and other peculiarities achieve very high values.
In 2014, a 1922 proof, thought to be one of 10, was sold for over $450,000.
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