Mint records indicate the first gold dollars were produced on May 7, 1849; Longacre's diary notes state instead that the first were struck on May 8. A few coins in proof condition were struck on the first day, along with about 1,000 for circulation. There are five major varieties of the 1849 gold dollar from Philadelphia, made as Longacre continued to fine-tune the design. Mintmarked dies were sent by Longacre's Engraving Department at the Philadelphia Mint to the branch mints at Charlotte, Dahlonega (in Georgia), and New Orleans; coins struck at the branches resemble some of the types issued from Philadelphia, depending on when the dies were produced. Of the coins struck at the branch mints in 1849, only pieces struck at Charlotte (1849-C) exist in multiple varieties; most are of what is dubbed the "Closed Wreath" variety. Approximately five of the 1849-C Open Wreath are known; one, believed the finest surviving specimen, sold at auction for $690,000 in 2004, remaining a record for the gold dollar series as of 2013. One of the changes made during production was the inclusion of Longacre's initial "L" on the truncation of Liberty's neck, the first time a U.S. coin intended for full-scale production had borne the initial of its designer. All issues beginning in 1850 bear the Closed Wreath. Beginning in 1854, the gold dollar was also struck at the new San Francisco Mint.