Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 74

June Long Beach Coin Auction

Territorial Gold Coins

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 2057		1855 Kellogg & Co (San Francisco) $50 Gold Commemorative Restrike. PCGS graded Gem Uncirculated. Struck in San Francisco September 7, 2001. These huge gold coins were struck from transfer dies made from the original 1855 Kellogg and Company dies. The planchets were made from original Kellogg and Humbert assayers gold ingots recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure. This coin has a stamp on the reverse above the eagle showing "Struck September 7, 2001. C.H.S." (California Historical Society). This coin also bears an inscription "S.S. Central American Gold C.H.S." on the reverse ribbon. This coin is listed in the Guide Book. This coin comes with a custom hand-hammered copper frame with gold imprinted purple ribbons - modeled after the San Francisco Jeweler's Shreve & Co., for the famous 1915-S Panama-Pacific commemorative coins. Less than 500 of these were minted in Uncirculated condition. A truly historic commemorative coin struck from the actual gold recovered from the S.S. Central America ship wreck. Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,500. The Arden Collection. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $4,485
Lot 2058		1855 Kellogg & Co (San Francisco) $50 Gold Commemorative Restrike. PCGS graded Gem Proof. Struck in San Francisco September 2001. These huge gold coins were struck from transfer dies made from the original 1855 Kellogg and Company dies. The planchets were made from original Kellogg and Humbert assayers gold ingots recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure. This coin has a stamp on the reverse above the eagle showing the exact date struck in 2001. This coin also bears an inscription "S.S. Central American Gold C.H.S." on the reverse ribbon. This coin is listed in the Guide Book. This coin comes with a custom hand-hammered copper frame with gold imprinted purple ribbons - modeled after the San Francisco Jeweler's Shreve & Co., for the famous 1915-S Panama-Pacific commemorative coins. A truly historic commemorative coin struck from the actual gold recovered from the S.S. Central America ship wreck. Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,500. The Arden Collection. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $4,370
Lot 2059		1855 Kellogg & Co (San Francisco) $50 Gold Commemorative Restrike. PCGS graded Gem Proof. Struck in San Francisco September 2001. These huge gold coins were struck from transfer dies made from the original 1855 Kellogg and Company dies. The planchets were made from original Kellogg and Humbert assayers gold ingots recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure. This coin has a stamp on the reverse above the eagle showing the exact date struck in 2001. This coin also bears an inscription "S.S. Central American Gold C.H.S." on the reverse ribbon. This coin is listed in the Guide Book. This coin comes with a custom hand-hammered copper frame with gold imprinted purple ribbons - modeled after the San Francisco Jeweler's Shreve & Co., for the famous 1915-S Panama-Pacific commemorative coins. A truly historic commemorative coin struck from the actual gold recovered from the S.S. Central America ship wreck. Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,500. The Arden Collection. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $4,140
Lot 2060		August Bechtler, 1 DOLLAR CAROLINA, 27 Gr. 21 Carats PCGS graded Genuine AU Details. Filed rims. Still a nice coin and representative of this historic Carolina Minter whose coinage were accepted at par with regular USA gold coinage (PCGS # 10040) . Estimated Value $700 - 750. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $2,070
Lot 2061		1850 Moffat & Co. (San Francisco) $5 Gold. NGC graded AU-55. Mostly untoned. Light greenish yellow gold surfaces. Fairly well struck, but with some lightness in areas, as is usual for these pieces. The obverse and reverse, from dies by Albrecht Kuner, are based upon the contemporary federal half eagle to improve acceptance. Such pieces circulated at par in San Francisco in an era in which small gold coins were in short supply while the demand for them was urgent. These pieces were strictly functional, with not much thought given to saving them except by Jacob R. Eckfeldt and William E. Dubois, curators of the Mint Cabinet in Philadelphia, who scouted about for interesting California coins out of incoming deposits, creating the basis for the collection on view at the Smithsonian Institution today. The history of Moffat & Co. is fascinating, and among other places it is given in detail in Dave Bowers' book, A California Gold Rush History and by the noted historian Dr. Donald Kagin in his work, Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States (1994). Pop 7; 27 finer at NGC (PCGS # 10243) . Estimated Value $4,000 - 4,400. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $7,188
Lot 2062		1852 U.S. Assay Office $50 "Slug", 887 THOUS. Reeded Edge. PCGS graded EF-40. CAC Approved. Normal nicks and bruises from circulation. Pleasing rose color toning within the devices. Pop 12; 18 finer This is an extremely important opportunity for the specialist and connoisseur. Most examples of these large "slugs" are considerably worn and exhibit substantial damage. The present offering survived in better condition. The $50 octagonal "slug," called an adobe in local trade, as perhaps these pieces resembled bricks in a way, was a mainstay of California commerce in the days of the Gold Rush. Such pieces were used in large transactions, being the coin of choice, since people shunned paper money and in fact paper money was illegal in the state (under the Constitution of 1850) for this very reason; also, lesser denomination gold coins were often unobtainable. Such octagonal $50 pieces were last minted in 1852, but were continued in use for much of the rest of the decade. Many were sent to the Philadelphia Mint and other Mints in the East and South, where they were melted into bullion, then recoined into federal denominations. Some pieces figured prominently in the S.S. Central America tragedy, a ship lost at sea in 1857 which carried a small supply of such pieces, apparently destined for Philadelphia. It is likely that by 1860 most slugs disappeared, as by this time the San Francisco Mint had been in operation since 1854, and regular issue double eagles were plentiful in commerce (PCGS # 10217) . Estimated Value $25,000 - 27,000. The Arden Collection. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $39,100
Lot 2063		1855 Wass, Molitor & Co. (San Francisco) $50 Gold. Our grade is Sharpness of XF however cleaned and lightly polished. A popular gold coin. The Wass Molitor coinage was known for its high intrinsic value, but the production qualities were somewhat off as far as strike and die maintenance are concerned. Struck in large numbers, though extensively melted, the Wass, Molitor fifty dollar pieces are scarce but not rare. Examples only appear for sale infrequently in auctions. Wass, Molitor and Kellogg & Co. were the final private gold issuers in California, once the San Francisco Mint got its operations into full gear by 1855. After producing a modest quantity of pieces, the Molitor firm closed its operation. The following year found Wass seeking employment while Molitor moved to London. Most of these $50 coins were melted. They were reminted into official federal gold coinage at San Francisco and elsewhere, although a few survived and now a few score examples are believed to exist. This Choice AU example is a pleasing green-gold representative of the design. The polishing has left much of the word DOLLARS and part of the 0 in 50 weak or missing. It appears that the surfaces, which are a tad too bright, may have been lightly cleaned, per the grading description (PCGS # 10363) . Estimated Value $12,000 - 15,000. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $24,725