1859-S
Gold Dollar - The 1859-S Gold Dollar is rare
in Mint Condition with only 23 certified by both grading
services. Most are well struck on better quality planchets.
The coin is undervalued when compared to the Southern branch
mint coins.
In 1859 the Comstock Lode was discovered
in what is now Virginia City, Nevada. Prospectors rushed
to make claims and mining camps thrived. After the surface
ore was exhausted, miners had to tunnel underground to reach
the deposits. The Comstock Lode deposits often occurred
in discrete masses that were hundreds of feet thick.
The soft ore could be removed with a shovel,
but this caused weakness that led to cave-ins. Timbers were
used to fill in the voids to prevent more cave-ins. Peak
production at the Comstock mines yielded over fourteen million
dollars worth of gold and twenty-one million dollars worth
of silver, about 840 million dollars in today’s money
adjusted for inflation.
