Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 5

The Dr. Jon Kardatzke Coin Collection, Parts 2 and 3

California Gold

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 2034		Delightful 1849 Norris, Gregg & Norris Fiver! PCGS graded AU-55. The first of the California private-mint issues, mentioned as early as May 1849 in a newspaper account which noted that a useful five-dollar-gold coin had just been made at Benicia City. Almost immediately, these coins disappeared into history, and the minters' initials which appear on these coins ("N.G & N." above the date of 1849) were not tied to the folks who created these coins until the next century. This specimen is charming almost beyond belief. Although circulated slightly, which we think adds to its historical appeal, it is remarkably fine in all respects. The rims are clean and unharmed. The beading inside these rims is especially distinct. The surfaces are only lightly ticked by contact with other coins (we like to imagine some miner having this in a leather poke with others just like it, dangling from his belt back in 1849!). A fair amount of luster remains. And the color is a deepset orange-gold sheathed by a delightful purplish red hue. "A gosh-darned original beauty!" And rare as sin as such (sin today we mean, not sin back in them thar gold fields, of course). In the autumn of 1849, a constitutional convention of withery politicians and wiley businessmen met in the coastal fishing town of Monterey, drafting a set of ideas which would prohibit the detested slavery from occurring in the Territory of California. The resulting document was ratified by a popular vote of citizens in November. These same conventioneers then petitioned Washington for statehood, a dream which came true in the autumn of 1850. The stage was set, for war over slavery and for the wildest expansion in the Union's wealth, as the hills of central California yielded tons of yellow dust and golden nuggets. This charming, historic, and very rare coin was created from some of the first of that native ore that came out of those golden brown hills. View details	Realized $8,740
Lot 2035		1849 Moffat & Co. $5 Gold. EF-40. Choice surfaces for the grade, the word MOFFAT & Co is clear on Liberty's headband, and her cheek and the surrounding fields are pleasantly well preserved. Perhaps cleaned at some time in the past, but still with a bit of luster and a great value for the territorial specialist. View details	Realized $1,955
Lot 2036		1850 Moffat & Co. $5 Gold. PCGS graded AU-50. Struck during the initial free-wheeling days of the California gold rush, with some of the new-found gold that was pouring into the local cities from the mining areas. Moffat and Company was perhaps the most important of the California private coiners, the assay office conducted business in a semi-official character. The successors to this firm, Curtis, Perry and Ward later established the United States Branch mint of San Francisco. Typical surfaces for the issue, with some moderate circulation marks, but decently struck and seldom found better. View details	Realized $3,335
Lot 2037		1852 U.S. Assay Office $50 "slug", 887 THOUS. Reeded edge. PCGS graded EF-45. Smooth, even wear on this rare territorial gold "slug". The corners show a few moderate bumps, not the usual mountain ranges seen on more worn coins. Old toning ranging into the red rose color range around the edges, and well struck for this issue. The peripheral lettering is weak, but can be seen with a glass. With the popular bull's-eye reverse, and 887 THOUS proudly displayed on the obverse above the eagle. An historic coin that will easily find a happy home with a territorial specialist. View details	Realized $8,913
Lot 2038		1852 U.S. Assay Office $10 Gold, 884 THOUS. EF-40. Nice rims and decent fields are complemented by deep orange-gold and purplish red toning. Another of these delightful pieces from the collector who stored his Territorial Gold in red velvet trays. Original and therefore exceptional. View details	Realized $1,783
Lot 2039		1853 U.S. Assay Office $20 Gold, 900 THOUS. PCGS graded EF-45. A superb coin the grade that boasts deep reddish-purple colors from many years displayed in a red velvet tray. All the devices are well struck and well preserved. Examination will note minor circulation marks, but they are covered over by the glorious toning. If you have been searching for a really choice example of this variety, then look no further than this piece. View details	Realized $2,990
Lot 2040		1853 U.S. Assay Office $20 Gold Double Eagle. PCGS graded AU-53. The last of the Moffat & Co. twenties, catalogued in the Red Book under U.S. Assay Office issues (as it was evidently struck after Moffat retired). This one has a great deal of eye appeal. Its rims and surfaces are very clean, with just small abrasions in the fields and a few bigger marks on Liberty. Lots of luster shows beneath gorgeous purplish golden toning acquired after years of being placed in a red velvet tray. Another jewel of a circulated San Francisco gold piece! View details	Realized $6,900
Lot 2041		1849 Miners' Bank $10 Gold. PCGS graded AU-53. Plain Border. Even though this circulated to some extent, it's just a wonderful memento of "pioneer gold" made in early 'Frisco and obviously used among the miners and merchants of its day. Why wonderful? The color, which is a deep orange gold, indicating it retains the same look it had back when it was used for money. The strike, too, is sharp throughout the eagle's feathers, and shows the bird's rounded eye and deadly sharp beak. The surfaces are pocked by tiny abrasions only, indicative of genuine use. The rims are clean and unblemished: nobody threw this one against a wall in a drunken stupor at some Barbary Coast drinking emporium! All in all, a joy for the collector who appreciates originality in a coin handled by real people in an exciting and forever-lost time in America's past. A Gold Rush classic! PCGS has graded one piece MS-61, another 4 as AU-58, 3 in AU-55, and 5 in AU-53. This is a new AU-53, bringing that number to 6. However, a total of only 25 coins have been reviewed in all grades. View details	Realized $15,525
Lot 2042		1849 Pacific Co. $1 Gold Trial Piece. Good-6. The important radiate-cap "signature side" of the Pacific Co. shows clearly on this curious silver item. While the history of this private coiner remains largely murky, it was one of the first mints to rise to the need for gold currency at the start of the great Gold Rush. A charming account may be read in Edgar Adams' Private Gold Coinage book of 1912, pages 58-62. The dollar-denomination coin seems known only in trial and off-metal form. It was not made in gold, or at least hasn't survived or been located, thus it is the rarest in this mysterious series. As our photo shows, the "logo" of the Pacific Co. shows within a broad rim: the Liberty Cap circled by stars and rays, with "1 DOLLAR" beneath. This trial piece was coined over a silver 1776 Spanish Un Real. How it came to be so heavily circulated might fascinate the imagination, but it bears no heavy scars from use. The toning is deep, making it resemble a copper or bronze coin. We might note that the important Clifford Collection sold in 1982 did not have one of these. This specimen was purchased privately from Bowers & Ruddy Galleries in March 1977 for $1,750. An important rarity for the Territorial buff! View details	Realized $3,105
Lot 2043		1850 Baldwin & Co. $5 Gold. PCGS graded AU-50. A charming example of this important Territorial Gold rarity. The rims are high and round, with deep beading inside them. The surfaces show some normal use, but the coin just does not have the usual large scraps and "insults" so typically found on Gold Rush era issues. Baldwin, of course, struck these in small numbers, and relatively few have survived, fewer still in such a desirable shape as this piece. It, too, has the lovely old-gold look enhanced by reddish toning atop a bit 'o sparkle from the dies. Curiously, the final "A" in "CALIFORNIA" is cut over an upside-down "A." Sure to elicit a strong bid! While George Baldwin and Tom Holman were busy in San Francisco making jewelry out of gold dust and ore sold to them by local miners, and after May of 1850 knocking out USA-like gold coins for commerce with the coining machines they purchased from Kohler & Co., the world at large stood poised to change forever because of the wealth coming out of the Golden State. In fact, in this same year, the London School of Mines was established in the English capital. America's population stood at a mere 23 million (about 15% of whom were black slaves)--and Henry Clay, ever the unaffable one, presented the U.S. Senate with some anti-slavery resolutions that became the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California to the Union as a Free State, adding fuel to the heated debate over slavery. For today's California buffs it is worth remembering that the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was signed between America and England; it was an early proposal for a much-needed canal across Central America, whereas in 1850 any freshly mined native gold ore had to be shipped around South America or carried across the isthmus and loaded on another vessel to be shipped on to New York. The times, they were perilous! How could a coin such as this, obviously used as money, have come down to us in such charming shape?. View details	Realized $12,075
Lot 2044		1852 Wass, Molitor & Co. $5 Gold. Large head. PCGS graded VF-30. Pointed bust on this variety. In truth, this specimen is beat up, attesting to "honest use" in the wilds of the gold fields and mining towns of the Gold Rush days. The amount of wear also indicates that it served its purpose, which was to alleviate the shortage of "small change" (five bucks was nothing in the boom towns, which reeked of inflation) at the time. However, the color of this coin makes up for a lot of its minor dents and bangs. It's an orange gold topped by a reddish purple. The collector who consigned this (and some others here) kept his treasures in those red-velvet trays fashionable in Europe. This may have contributed to the ancient colors found here. View details	Realized $2,875
Lot 2045		1854 Kellogg & Co. $20 Gold. VF-35. Here's one straight from the saloons of the Barbary Coast! Orange-gold in color (with a ring of ancient purple iridescence on the rims) and having numerous small gashes, bagmarks, "sidewalk" edge dents, and various and sundry other "hits" of unknown but imaginable origin, this thing reeks of authenticity! The devices and legends are all bold, and the coin has all the details of an AU, but we've net-graded it because of the multiple signs of use. Frankly, to the historically hip collector, this coin should have more appeal than a pristine BU. View details	Realized $2,300
Lot 2046		Pair of California gold tokens. Choice About Uncirculated and better. 1883 octagonal 1/2 showing a miner at work, frosty and lovely; and an 1854 Indian Head round 1/4 size, with old reddish gold toning. Neat pieces! Total of 2 items. View details	Realized $81
Lot 2047		Undated Octagonal California gold Dollar. AU-50. Liberty Head. Reverse style of the U.S. Assay Office and the Kellogg Fifties. BG-501: Rarity-6. Old-time deep reddish gold toning, no unusual marks. The reverse is sharply detailed. View details	Realized $1,323
Lot 2048		1856 California gold Half Dollar. MS-60. Octagonal Liberty Head. BG-310: Rarity-7. Golden red toning. View details	Realized $518
Lot 2049		1872 California gold Quarter Dollar. MS-63. Octagonal Washington Head surrounded by 13 stars. BG-722: Rarity-4. A lovely and very choice piece showing light yellow gold and gleaming luster. View details	Realized $690
Lot 2050		1876 California gold Dollar. MS-63. Octagonal Indian Head. BG-1129: Rarity-6. Flan crack but pleasing, with deep yellow gold color. View details	Realized $368
Lot 2051		Star Mining Ingot from Sonora, California. Mint State. A much-dented but sparkling yellow bar stamped with a 5-pointed incuse star and beneath it "MINING Co." Also the following pertinent data: "1880, OZS 5.43, FINE 995, CAL., No 521." Virtually as made, presumably near Rose Creek, Sonora County, California (the firm operated there from 1870 until 1895). As is typical of Cal ingots, only the topside is stamped, with a mixture of incuse and impressed logos. A real hunk of history, a wonderful relic of the days of yore when ore tumbled from those golden hills. Purchased from the Henry Clifford Collection, March 1982, Lot 111 (at $2800). Earlier from John J. Ford (1971) and from a 1969 Glendining auction in London. View details	Realized $4,600
Lot 2052		A Gleaming Star Mining Ingot. Mint State. A smaller ingot than the other, with the same incuse 5-pointed star stamped in its center and "MINING Co" beneath. This one is stamped as follows: "3.48 OZS, No 62, 998 FIN." Accompanied by a form from the U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Domestic Gold and Silver Operations, dated Oct. 30, 1970, an import license granted to Superior Stamp and Coin Company, Inc., and passing ownership from Glendining, the auction firm based in London. Gleaming and nicer than the bigger one offered here. A desirable lump presumably made from native ore. Little is known of Star Mining Company, but they sure did produce beautiful gold bars, of which this is a splendid example. View details	Realized $3,910
Lot 2053		1986 Proof Gold Eagle. Gem Proof. One-ounce bullion issue in perfect condition, as issued by the U.S. Mint in a capsule inside the blue plush case. View details	Realized $339