Lot 1739
1860 Clark, Gruber & Co. (Denver, Colorado) $5 Gold. PCGS graded MS-63. In PCGS holder 22073377. A nice bold strike in natural greenish color gold with rich golden overtones. A most attractive example and quite choice for the grade. Devices are sharp in all areas, as struck, which Territorial collectors will spot at once as above-average and which the grading service has taken into consideration in assigning the grade, as also desired by collectors. Clark, Gruber and Company was a prolific issuer of private gold coins during the opening of the West.
The placer gold deposits along the rivers and streams of the region supplied much of the material that went into Gruber's coinage, though the placer deposits rapidly played out. But miners soon discovered far more valuable seams of hard rock gold, silver, and other minerals in the nearby mountains.
The Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson (now known as Colorado) was organized on October 24, 1859, but the new territory failed to secure federal sanction. The election of Abraham Lincoln for U.S. President in November 1860, led to the secession of six slave states and the threat of civil war. Seeking to augment the political power of the free states, the Republican-led U.S. Congress hurriedly admitted the eastern portion of the Territory of Kansas to the Union as the free State of Kansas on in January 1861, leaving the western portion of the territory, and its gold fields, unorganized.
Thirty days later on in February 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed an act of Congress organizing the free Territory of Colorado. Pop 4; 4 finer with 2 in 64, 2 in 65 (PCGS # 10136) .
Estimated Value $22,000 - 24,000.
|
| |
| Unsold |
