Type 2 Gold Dollars: James B. Longacre designed the Indian Head, Small Head or Type 2 gold dollar. It had the same weight and fineness as the Type 1 or Liberty Head dollar, but the diameter was increased from 13 millimeters to 15 millimeters. It was minted from 1854 to 1856, when the Type 3 design supplanted it. The Type 2 coins had striking problems because they were often softly struck in the centers, so much so that the date on uncirculated coins was at times unreadable. The branch mint issues of 1855 are especially weakly struck with Full Details coins being almost unavailable.

Longacre used the Indian Princess motif for this issue. It shows a left facing Liberty in profile wearing a stylized feathered headdress. LIBERTY is on the headband, and her curls flow down to the truncation. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is at the periphery surrounding Liberty. The reverse has an elaborate, closed wreath of corn, cotton, maple, and tobacco tied with a bow and knot at the bottom. Within the wreath is the denomination written as 1 DOLLAR on two lines with the date below it. The mintmark is below the bow knot.

To remedy the problem of the poorly struck Indian Princess dollars, Longacre designed the Type 3 piece, which is similar to the Type 2 but has lower relief; the obverse head was moved so as not to be opposite a reverse relief area. The Type 3 coin is also called the Large Head.