1849 California Gold - Pacific Company

Coin Details

Auction Record

$305,500 MS61 04-23-2014 Heritage Auctions

Description

This 1849 California Gold piece attributed to the Pacific Company is a general-type issue from the firm's brief minting operation during the first year of the Gold Rush. The Pacific Company was among the earliest private enterprises to attempt coined money production in California, beginning operations in San Francisco in 1849 when the influx of gold miners created overwhelming demand for a reliable circulating medium. The piece carries the Pacific Company identification and is representative of the firm's characteristically crude but historically significant output. Design execution varies considerably across Pacific Company products, reflecting the improvisational nature of frontier minting where die-making tools, skilled engravers, and established production processes were all in short supply. The Pacific Company remains one of the most debated entities in California territorial gold numismatics. Basic questions about the firm's principals, the duration of its operations, the authenticity of various attributed pieces, and the circumstances of its closure remain subjects of scholarly disagreement. This uncertainty paradoxically increases collector interest, as the Pacific Company's products represent a genuinely unsolved puzzle in American numismatic history.

Rarity Notes

Very rare. All Pacific Company issues are scarce to extremely rare regardless of denomination or metal.

Cross References

Kagin reference series. Pacific Company, San Francisco, 1849.