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Sale 31
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Lot 1215
1850 Baldwin & Co. (San Francisco) $10 Gold. NGC graded MS-64. A fabulous example of one of the most desirable and most recognizable of all Territorial gold coins. The Vaquero, or "horseman" design captures the imagination of any numismatist. The reverse design was similar to the existing United States eagles. Curiously, because the obverse was so recognizable, the coin did not find the wide acceptance as a design more closely resembling the regular issue gold coins of the United States, and hence, the obverse die was changed in 1851 to resemble a Liberty Eagle.
This particular example boasts stunning frosty mint luster with fully struck devices in natural light gold with a slight greenish tinge. A foremost opportunity to acquire a very important numismatic treasure that may not be repeated for years to come. NGC reports this 1 example in MS-64 with 1 higher by a point.
The banking firm of Baldwin and Company was effectively crushed by a wandering eccentric who called himself James King of William. Mr. King was a muckracking political journalist from Washington D.C. for the Daily Globe until he realized better opportunities were to be found in San Francisco with the beginnings of the Gold Rush. Thus King found his way to the mining district by late 1848. Being a sagacious fellow, King soon determined that digging for gold was hard work, and it would be far easier to buy, sell or lend gold dust than to dig for it. He became one of the partners in the banking firm of Samuel J. Hensely and in several successive firms, buying gold dust to sell to coiners at high profits, starting first at Sutter's Mill, then Sacramento, and later on his own in San Francisco. However, his bank manager embezzled everything, leaving him penniless. King was envious of the profits being made by the likes of Baldwin & Co. and other private coiners of the period, and thus hatched a plot to make himself rich at their expense. King knew, as did everyone else, that the private coiner's output tended to run slightly below full bullion value, and unlike everyone else, King decided to define this as dishonestly instead of seinorage or technical limitations. Accordingly, on March 21, 1851 King sent a parcel of Baldwin, Schultz and DuBosq coins to his friend Augustus Hubert, United States Assayer, for testing. Predictably, the assays rated them from 97% to 99% of face value. On March 28, 1851 King sent the figures to all local newspapers, creating one of the biggest scandals of the period, and setting into motion corrosive attacks on these private firms. Thereafter, bankers (like King) would only pay 80¢ on the dollar for private gold coins, at a manifestly absurd discount they bought them in quantity from panicked holders, to resell at a high profit to Humbert for recoinage into octagonal $50's. This action unquestionably worsened the economic depression which immediately followed, and may have cause it, by creating a coin shortage and destroying public confidence. Not that King's action brought him the vast wealth he craved: He continued in the banking business only to fail again and again. King returned to what Kagin calls "crusading journalism" which attacks on various immorality and corruption. his final attack was on County Supervisor James P. Casey, who King exposed as having been in Sing Sing Prison prior to his governmental post. Casey was so enraged he shot King on May 14, 1856, and King died a few days later. The outraged citizens formed a vigilante committee and dragged Casey out of jail (where he had run for protection), and hung him from the nearest tree. (See Breen's Encyclopedia and Kagin's work on Territorial Gold coins for more) (PCGS # 10028) .
Estimated Value $150,000 - 175,000.
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| Realized $195,500 |
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