Owner Comments:
The 1852 Philadelphia mint gold Dollar is probably the second most common coin in the Type I gold dollar set. Oddly enough I had a difficult time finding a piece that I liked to fill this spot in my set. At first I thought about buying a high grade MS-65 or better coin for this spot, which would also be an upgrade for my gold type set. The going rate for 1852 gold dollars in MS-65 was in the $3,500 to $4,000 range. Although I did see a couple of coins I liked in auctions I was always beaten by one bid. I also saw higher grade examples in MS-66 and 67, but those were priced at about $7,500 and over $15,000 respectively. That was more than I was willing to pay for a coin that I think of as "a widget."
On the lower end of the scale I could never find a piece that I liked in the MS-63 and 64 grades. Everyone of them had an issues, which ranged from odd, unattractive toning to excess marks for the grade assigned. I even found one piece that PCGS had graded MS-63 with a CAC sticker that had an "L" neatly carved above the head of Ms. Liberty! I could not believe that both the TPG and CAC missed that one.
Finally I found this piece at the spring 2015 Baltimore show. It has smooth surfaces for the grade and satiny luster. The die state is on the early side. Years ago I had an 1852 gold dollar in my type set that a lump in front of the nose of Ms. Liberty. This die defect, listed as variety #3 by Walter Breen, was noted in his "Major Varieties of U.S. Gold Dollars" which originally appeared in the "Numismatic Scrapbook" magazine and was later reprinted by Hewitt Brothers in 1964.