Gobrecht Style Dollar

In 1835 Robert Patterson became the new Director of the United States Mint. Patterson had hired Christian Gobrecht to become a Mint Engraver. To bolster the creativity of the designs, Patterson asked artists Thomas Sully and Titian Peale to create the allegorical subjects for the next dollar coin and a small quantity of these coins were struck for circulation in order to determine whether the coins would be acceptable by the public, as no dollar coins had been struck for circulation since 1803.

The design of the coin would portray Miss Liberty seated on a rock. In her left hand would be a pole with a Phrygian cap atop it. She would hold a Union shield in her right hand on which was inscribed the word “LIBERTY.” Gobrecht would place his name on the base of the rocks and the date “1836” would be below Miss Liberty.

The reverse of the coin depicted an American Bald Eagle flying upwards with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “ONE DOLLAR” around the periphery of the reverse. There would be 26 six-pointed stars surrounding the eagle, 18 above the eagle and eight below the eagle. The coin had a plain edge.

In 1836 1,000 coins were struck. They had the coin alignment which means when the obverse side faces up, the reverse side faces down. The coins had a plain edge. In 1837, 600 1836-dated coins were additionally struck with medal alignment – meaning when the obverse faces up, the reverse does likewise. In 1838, a coin with a similar obverse was struck, but this time the designer’s name was completely omitted from the coin, 13 six-pointed stars were added to the obverse and the 26 stars were omitted from the reverse, with 300 coins struck.

The need for a dollar coin and the acceptance of this dramatic design led to the creation of the Liberty Seated Dollar in 1840.