US Coins

'Exceptional' 1861 Indian Head gold $3

By Steve Roach

Published: Jul 13, 2017, 7 AM

An 1861 Indian Head gold $3 piece graded MS-65 from the Pogue Collection sold for $25,850 at Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ June 23 Baltimore auction.

Original images courtesy of Stack’s Bowers Galleries.

Both sides of the 1861 Indian Head gold $3 piece graded MS-65 from the Pogue Collection.

Images courtesy of Stack’s Bowers Galleries.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries offered several major collections as official auctioneer of the June Whitman Coin and Collectibles Expo in Baltimore. Part II of the Blue Moon Collection, featuring a broad range of collector-friendly coins that had been off the market for a generation, joined the collection of Robert Warner Wolfe and a group of Hard Times tokens from the collection of company co-founder Q. David Bowers. The June 22 to 25 Whitman Expo is the smallest of the three Whitman shows held at the Baltimore Convention Center, as many collectors and dealers wait for the big American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money (this year in Denver) to make big purchases.

Here's one of three coins that we are highlighting from the Stack’s Bowers Galleries offering:

The Lot:

1861 Indian Head gold $3 piece, MS-65

The Price:

$25,850

The Story:

Most of the roughly 650 coins from the collection of Texas businessman D. Brent Pogue, offered in five auctions by Stack’s Bowers and Sotheby’s starting in May 2015, that were sold to collectors and have not returned to the marketplace. The Pogue sales topped $106.6 million.

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The third Pogue auction on Feb. 9, 2016, included an exceptional collection of Indian Head gold $3 pieces that realized more than $2.6 million. Among these was an 1861 gold $3 coin graded Mint State 65 by Professional Coin Grading Service that sold for $28,200.

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It is from a low mintage of just 5,959 pieces, of which it is certainly one of the very finest known. In Baltimore it sold for a bit less than its Pogue III price, trading hands at $25,850 on June 23. The catalog observed, “An abundance of luster is present along with traces of warm olive iridescence,” and “some tiny ticks on Liberty’s chin and neck, and some others in her tresses.” For bidders who missed a chance to add a Pogue coin to their collection, the June Baltimore auction presented a rare opportunity.