The Mint Act of February 21, 1853 authorized production of the three-dollar gold coin. It was designed by James Longacre and is considered to be one of the most unusual coins commissioned by the United States Mint. It was Longacre’s challenge to create a coin that could be differentiated from $2½ and $5 Liberty coins. The $3 Gold Princess was not a very popular denomination when it was struck, and because of that they are extremely limited. Only the 1854 $3 had a mintage of more than 100,000, only four others exceeded 25,000, and seven issues have less than 1,000. The obverse features an “Indian Princess” wearing a feathered headdress with the word “Liberty” in raised letters on the headband.
