 In 1853 , Congress authorized a three @-@ dollar piece . In a note found among his papers , Longacre wrote that his task was to make the coin as easy as possible to distinguish from the quarter eagle , which at $ 2 @.@ 50 was close in value . Longacre produced a design for an Native American princess , which he made different from Gobrecht 's Liberty design on the quarter eagle with a thinner and wider planchet . At the time , a female Native American was often used to represent America in art , and a depiction of Liberty as an Indian princess was in accord with contemporary practices . The chief engraver wrote to Mint Director Snowden that the three @-@ dollar piece , which went into production in 1854 , was the first time he had been allowed artistic freedom in designing a coin . The gold dollar was altered the same year to make the planchet both thinner and wider ; Longacre modified his princess design for the gold dollar . For the reverse of the coins , Longacre created a wreath of wheat , corn , tobacco , and cotton , blending the agricultural products of the North and the South . This wreath would also be used on the reverse of the Flying Eagle cent in 1856 ; reused on the dime beginning in 1860 , the " cereal wreath " would be Longacre 's last surviving design on coinage , remaining with modifications until the 1916 abandonment of the Barber dime . 
