J-1655 - 1880 Silver Dollar Pattern - 1880 $1.00 Pattern J1655, R7, NGC PF64 RB. This near-Gem, copper, proof 1880 Silver Dollar Pattern has subdued mint luster in protected areas. The coin is a mixture of red and brown with light highlights within the devices. The surfaces are original and clean with no hairlines visible without the aid of magnification. Nor are there other distractions to mar the surface of this eye-appealing piece. As expected for a proof coin, the devices are fully struck in every detail.

George T. Morgan designed the obverse. It shows a Coiled Hair head of Liberty facing left in profile. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is above her head. There are seven six-pointed stars to her left and six to the right with the date below. The reverse, designed by William Barber, shows a circle of 38 stars that enclose 15.3 G., 236.7 S., 28 C., 14 Grams. with the inscription GOLOID METRIC DOLLAR. above and DEO EST GLORIA below. Around the border at the periphery are the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and 100 CENTS. The pattern was also struck in goloid and aluminum.

Goloid is an alloy of gold, silver, and copper developed by Dr. William Hubbell in 1877. It is approximately 1 part gold, 24 parts silver, and 2.5 parts copper. The patent that Hubbell obtained indicates that the metals had to be melted separately and then mixed with sodium or potassium sulfate. Goloid was eventually rejected as a coinage metal because it could not be distinguished from the normal 90% silver coin alloy without chemical analysis. Its use would also be inviting to counterfeiters to use sliver-copper alloys without gold to make lower value copies.

George T. Morgan was born on January 4, 1845 in Birmingham, England. Morgan attended the Birmingham Art School and won a scholarship to the South Kensington Art School. He worked as an assistant under the Wyons at the British Royal Mint. In 1876 Morgan immigrated to the United States and was hired as an assistant to William Barber at the United States Mint. Morgan reported directly to Mint Director Henry R. Linderman, whose office was moved to Washington D.C. in 1873, no doubt upsetting Engraver Barber and his son, Assistant Engraver, Charles Barber. Morgan was involved in the production of pattern coins from 1877 until his death in 1925. He designed varieties of the 1877 half dollar, the Schoolgirl dollar of 1879, and the Shield Earring coins of 1882. He became the seventh Chief Engraver in 1917 with the death of Charles E. Barber. Today, Morgan is most known for his design of the Morgan Dollar of 1878 to 1921. A recently found, although never released design was for the $100 Gold Union.

William Barber was renowned for his pattern work and for the production of over forty medals. The dies and prototypes for these works were repeated many times over with slight modifications. One of Barbers most famous works was the Amazonian Seated Liberty quarter. In total, Barbers body of work is considered uninspired and inconsistent. However, he was one of the most prolific and influential pattern designers that had ever been employed by the Mint. He is probably best known for his Britannia inspired Trade Dollar that was made from 1873 to 1878 for circulation in China and other countries of the Far East. In 1878 Trade Dollars were discontinued, although proofs were made until 1885. One of Barbers negatives is that he was one of two Chief Engravers of the Mint not to have designed any major circulating coinage. He was responsible for the twenty-cent piece, but it was minted for only two years. Barber was succeeded at Chief Engraver by his son Charles.

The 1880 J-1655 pattern dollar has a rarity rating of R7, which means that 7 to 12 pieces are known in all grades. In its population report, NGC shows 1, the present coin, in PFRB64 with 3 better. At PCGS there is 1 in PRRB64 with 2 better, and these numbers do not account for crossovers or resubmissions.