The "Stella" was an experimental U.S. four-dollar gold coin first issued in 1879. It featured on the front Liberty in either a flowing or coiled hair style and a star on the back. The obverse of the coin also indicates the individual amounts of gold, silver, and copper in each unit.
The coin was intended to be used internationally. There were patterns made in several different kinds of metals, and gold examples of the flowing hair style dated 1879 were made available to members of Congress (but to no one else) by the mint.
Congress did not authorize the general production of the coin, and only a few hundred examples were made--including some made in 1880 surreptitiously by the mint to sell to collectors.
Oddly enough, shortly after the Congressmen acquired their 1879 flowing hair gold Stellas, the very same coins started showing up mounted on necklaces worn by the madams of some of the most venerable brothels in the District of Columbia, creating a scandal which titillated Washington high society.
Today, a Stella in top condition can easily fetch its owner a sum in the seven-figures.
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