1849 Mormon Five Dollar - Copper, Uniface Restrike

Coin Details

Auction Record

$9,775 MS65 01-05-2011 Heritage Auctions

Description

This uniface copper restrike captures one side of the 1849 Mormon five-dollar gold piece from the Deseret Mint in Salt Lake City. The Mormon half eagle shared the distinctive religious iconography of the full series — the clasped hands of fellowship, the all-seeing eye, and the inscription "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" that appeared across all denominations of Mormon gold coinage. Brigham Young authorized the Deseret Mint to produce coined money from California gold, establishing one of the few organized private minting operations in the interior West during the Gold Rush era. The five-dollar denomination was more practical for everyday commerce than the larger $10 and $20 pieces, and it saw broader circulation among the Mormon settlers and merchants of the Salt Lake Valley. This copper restrike was produced at a later date using the original dies, providing numismatists and historians with an impression from the dies that created some of America's most storied territorial coins. The uniface format — struck from a single die against a blank planchet — reveals the full depth and detail of the die's engraving without interference from a second die. Mormon gold coins occupy a unique niche in American numismatics as artifacts of a religious community's experiment in monetary self-sufficiency, and any impression from the original Deseret Mint dies is a tangible connection to that pioneering enterprise.

Rarity Notes

Extremely rare. Uniface copper restrikes of Mormon half eagle dies are known in very few specimens; original gold half eagles from the Deseret Mint are major territorial rarities.

Cross References

Mormon gold coinage; Deseret Mint, Salt Lake City