These are the Gold Coins available at the time, I am researching to find the coin that Lt. Dixon may of had.

The Liberty Gold Collection

The $2.50 Liberty U.S. Gold Coin
This coin, designed by Christian Gobrecht was first minted in 1840.  
By 1850, only ten years later, all of America's circulating gold coins 
featured this classic design.  Few people collected coins in the 19th 
and early 20th Centuries and very few of these coins still exist in 
Mint State or Uncirculated Condition.

        

Minted from: 1840-1907

The $5 Liberty  U.S. Gold Coin
The $5 Liberty Gold Half Eagle coin,  containing almost a half-ounce 
of gold, was first minted in 1839 and continued in mintage until 1908. 
Mint State coins are rare because at that time $5 was a sizable sum 
of money and only a handful of visionary Americans could afford to 
save a $5 coin in pristine condition.

    
 
Minted from: 1839-1907

The $10 Liberty U.S. Gold Coin, MS62
The James Longacre design is slightly different from the Gobrecht
design but similar enough to justify including all four coins in a Liberty 
set. The $10 coin contains .483 oz. of gold and was first minted in 1838.  These coins made up the majority of America's circulating coin even 
after the introduction of paper money at the beginning of the 
Civil War in 1861. 

 

Minted from:1838-1907
The $20 Liberty U.S. Gold Coin  MS62
In 1849 Congress authorized the minting of the $20 Double Eagle
 gold coin using the Longacre design.  The coin contains .9675 oz. 
of pure gold,  an unthinkable amount before the 1849 discovery of a 
massive amount of gold near Sutter's Mill in Central California.  
The coin continued in common usage well past its final 
minting in 1907.  

   

Minted from: 1849-1907

 

Until 1849, the U.S. Mint produced only $2.50, $5 and $10 coins. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill and the ensuing California gold rush, however, soon prompted Congress to authorize the mintage of the legendary $20 Double Eagle.

In January 1850, the first regular production Liberty Double Eagles were struck.

Over the years, this coin was produced in three types. Type I, the "No Motto" variety, was minted from 1849 to 1866. Type II, bearing the designation "Twenty D" on the reverse, was minted from 1866 to 1876, followed by the most common variety, Type III (1877-1907), with "Twenty Dollars" fully spelled out. This historic coin offers the highest gold content of any regular issue U.S. gold coin of its era and possesses one of the most arresting reverses on any United States coin: a dauntless eagle, its wings fully spread. The obverse bears a classical Greek rendition of Lady Liberty.

This gleaming keepsake from America's past reigned as King of American coins from 1850 to 1907 and remains a tangible reminder of our rich, hard-money heritage.



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