When James Barton Longacre became only the fourth Chief Engraver at the U.S. Mint in 1844, he was not well-received by the Mint Director and the Head Coiner of the Mint. When Longacre was selected byCongress to design the new one-dollar and twenty-dollar coins, the directors tried to have him fired. Longacre prevailed and so began the career of one of the greatest coin designers in U.S. history.The very first coin he created was the Liberty Head Gold Dollar. First minted in 1849, the coin actually had two reverse designs - the closed wreath and the open wreath. The Liberty Head Dollars thatwere minted at the Mint facility in Charlotte, NC (C), that year were all thought to be of the closed wreath variety. It wasn't until the early 1900s that the 1849-C "open wreath” variety was discovered. Today, only five examples of this Longacre masterpiece known to exist. Available exclusively from American Mint, this 24k gold-layered replica is meticulously reproduced from John B. Longacre's1849-C Gold Liberty Head Dollar with the open wreath reverse. Minted to the highest quality "Proof ” standard, our limited edition replica of this incredibly rare coin comes in its own protective capsule to preserve it for generations to come.