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.
|
| |
| Realized $7,188 |
