1879 Flowing Hair Stella

Specifications

Denomination: $4
Series: Stella pattern (1879-1880)
Designer: Charles E. Barber
Engraver: Charles E. Barber
Years of issue: 1879
Composition: 85.7% Gold, 4.3% Silver, 10% Copper
Weight: 7 g
Diameter: 21.6 mm
Edge: Reeded
Mintage: 425
Key mintages: Pattern coin, not a business strike. Mint records show 425 delivered (25 metric-alloy Judd-1635/Pollock-1832 + 400 standard-alloy Pollock-1833); Garrett and Guth suggest up to 725 may have been struck (Heritage).

Melt value: $838.66gold $4,345.00/ozt, silver $64.40/ozt, copper $0.44/ozt · prices as of Sep 16, 2026

Wikimedia Commons, National Numismatic Collection (photograph by Jaclyn Nash), public domain

425 struck: the $4 gold pattern Congressmen bought at cost — and ended up wearing as jewelry.

History

The Stella was a $4 gold pattern proposed in 1879 by John A. Kasson, former chairman of the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, to give U.S. coinage a metric valuation Europeans would accept in international trade (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Charles Barber’s Flowing Hair obverse was struck in two alloys: 25 pieces in the metric alloy (85.71% gold, 4.29% silver, 10% copper) delivered to Congress as three-piece pattern sets, then about 400 more in the standard 90% gold / 10% copper alloy; Mint records show 425 delivered total, though Garrett and Guth suggest up to 725 may have been struck (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Both obverse types share a common reverse of William Wheeler Hubbell’s conception: a five-pointed star inscribed ONE STELLA / 400 CENTS, ringed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and FOUR DOL., with E PLURIBUS UNUM and DEO EST GLORIA (‘God is the Glory’) between the star’s points (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Congress rejected the international metric-coinage scheme; the several hundred pieces already struck became a scandal when Congressmen who bought them at production cost were found to have turned them into jewelry — including pieces adorning the necks of madams operating Washington’s most infamous bordellos (Wikipedia; accessed 2026-09-16)
The four gold Stella varieties (1879/1880, Flowing Hair and Coiled Hair) are among the most famous U.S. patterns, routinely included in advanced gold type sets despite being patterns; the 1879 Flowing Hair is the ‘common’ one and the ideal type coin (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)

Key dates and varieties

Four gold varieties exist (1879 and 1880, Flowing Hair and Coiled Hair); the 1879 Flowing Hair is the only one produced in notable quantity, with the 1880 Coiled Hair the extreme rarity — a Coiled Hair sold for $2.75M at auction in 2015 (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Mint-record mintage: 425 delivered (25 metric-alloy + 400 standard-alloy); estimates range from 400 to over 700 (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Metric-alloy originals (Judd-1635, Pollock-1832) vs. standard-alloy restrikes (Pollock-1833): most certified survivors are believed to be standard .900 gold despite the inscribed metric border (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Do NOT treat this as a business strike: all are patterns/proofs, none circulated as regular coinage (Wikipedia; accessed 2026-09-16)

Specifications

composition
designers
diameter
edge
mint
weight

Collector notes

Genuine diagnostics: all genuine pieces are proofs with mirrored fields and frosted devices; the 1880 restrikes typically show weak definition in the hair over Liberty’s ear and light central planchet striations — these are as-made features, not damage (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Check the obverse border inscription ★6★G★.3★S★.7★C★7★GRAMS★ (6 grams gold, 0.3 silver, 0.7 copper, 7 grams total) against a certified reference piece; also confirm the reverse star reads ONE STELLA / 400 CENTS with DEO EST GLORIA below (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Because the design is famous and valuable, buy only PCGS- or NGC-certified examples and be wary of jewelry-mount damage — many were ex-jewelry (Wikipedia; accessed 2026-09-16)
Value factors: Cameo contrast and proof grade drive price; metric-alloy originals command premiums over standard-alloy restrikes (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)