The Type 2 gold dollars depict Liberty as a Native American princess, with a fanciful feathered headdress not resembling any worn by any Indian tribe. This image is one of a number of versions of Liberty that Longacre created based on the Venus Accroupie or Crouching Venus, a sculpture then on display in a Philadelphia museum. For the reverse, Longacre adapted the "agricultural wreath" he had created for the reverse of the three-dollar piece, composed of cotton, corn, tobacco, and wheat, blending the produce of North and South. This wreath would appear, later in the 1850s, on the Flying Eagle cent.

With the massive increase of bullion as a result of the Californian gold rush, the US congress authorised the first gold dollar in 1849. The coins eventually fell out of circulation due to the economic crises caused by the Civil War.

Liberty Head Gold Dollar - depicting Liberty as a Native American princess
Type 2 1849-1854
Designer James B Longacre.
Approximately 1.672 grams of 90% gold and 15mm in diameter.