1854 $3 (1854 Three Dollar Gold) NGC AU55. This bold, first-year-of-type 1854 Three Dollars Gold piece is fully lustrous on both sides. The sharp strike is seen on the tips of the feathers of the headdress, the wreath details, the central two numerals of the date, and the vertical division of the knot. Hair details under LIBERTY are usually weak for this date. Sufficient separation in the lines of the ends of the feathers exists to confirm the grade. The surfaces are clean for the grade with no major distractions worth of individual mention.

In 1851 a law was passed that authorized a three cent piece and also made the postage rate three cents. Two years later a new law was passed authorizing a light weight silver three cent coin and a Three Dollar Gold coin. Evidently lawmakers believed that the gold coin would be useful to buy rolls of three cent coins and sheets of stamps. Its closeness to the quarter eagle, which was widely used, made the denomination somewhat illogical, and the public proved indifferent to them.

James Longacre designed the Three Dollar Gold coin using the Indian Princess for his main device. He had to create a motif that would be distinctly different from the quarter and half eagle coronet designs. The design, similar to his Gold Dollar Large Head, shows a head of Liberty facing left in profile wearing a stylized headdress. Inscribed on the headband is LIBERTY. She is surrounded by the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. In using the Indian Princess design, Longacre felt that he was creating something that was uniquely American rather than an adoption from the classics. The reverse shows an open wreath of corn, cotton, wheat, and tobacco tied at the bottom with a bow. The denomination 3 appears at the top center of the wreath, with DOLLARS and the date below within the wreath.