1849 Mormon Twenty Dollar

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This is the 1849 Mormon twenty-dollar piece (Kagin K-4), reading TWENTY.DOLLARS with G.S.L.C.P.G. and the date around clasped hands. In Salt Lake City the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck gold pieces of two and a half, five, ten and twenty dollars from gold brought from California, beginning late in 1848 (Wikipedia; Greysheet). The 1849 pieces show an eye beneath a cap with HOLINESS TO THE LORD on one side and clasped hands with the date, the value and G.S.L.C.P.G., for Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold, on the other (Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 1850). The first pieces tested at the Philadelphia Mint were about 899 thousandths fine, alloyed only with the silver natural to the gold, and well short of their stated weight; a later mixed parcel counted at $562.50 yielded $479.20 at the Mint (Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 1850 and 1852). Wikipedia reports that coining stopped when Governor Alfred Cumming ordered it in 1861. The pieces the Mint tested weighed 436 to 453 grains and held $16.90 to $17.53 worth of gold (Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 1850). Greysheet calls it the first coin of twenty dollars struck in the United States and reports records of 1,000 struck. Catalogue numbers: K-4. PCGS number 10274.

Rarity Notes

R-6 (Greysheet)

Cross References

K-4