Lot 1470
1851 U.S. Assay Office $50 "slug", 887 THOUS. Reeded edge. NGC graded Humbert EF-45. An desirable, if somewhat abraded example with light yellow-golden color partial effacement (through wear and otherwise) of the lower legend on the obverse. Three of the four digits in the date are clear; there is an injury to the surface through the date.
This piece, as a "common" Type with 887 THOUS fineness on the scroll, has the familiar Target reverse. The design appears as a series of concentric circles in the center, surrounded by a series of crossing wavy, concentric circles. These concentric circular lines are known to mechanics as "engine turning,", the design is similar to the web-like engraving in the vignettes on paper money or on watchcases. Pop 11 (PCGS # 10214) .
Gold rush anecdote: Bumper-to-bumper highway congestion isn't just a modern phenomena. Rush hour traffic on the Oregon-California trail during 1849 and well into the 1850s was just as bad --probably worse. The image of a lone wagon on the endless prairie is largely myth; it's more accurate to imagine a moving city. Many reported seeing wagons all the way to the horizon day after day bringing miners or their families to the region to get rich in the California gold fields.
Not every 49er used the Oregon -California Trail. There were other routes to gold country -- one came perilously close to Antarctica! Those who did not want to endure a four month trek across the continent, traveled to California by ship. Trouble was, there was no direct water route to the west coast. So a ship leaving an East Coast city had to travel all the way to the tip of South America -- skirting the edge of the the Antarctic continent -- before heading north to California. It was a difficult trip that sometimes took a complete year.
Estimated Value $25,000 - 27,000.
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