1851 California Gold $50 - "880" $50 LE Augustus Humbert, "50"

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This is the 1851 Humbert octagonal fifty-dollar piece at 880 THOUS. with a lettered edge and 50 on the reverse. An act of September 30, 1850 let the Treasury contract with an established California assayer to cast gold into ingots bearing the stamp of a United States Assayer. Moffat & Co. took the contract, Augustus Humbert, a New York watchcase maker, was appointed assayer, and the first octagonal fifty-dollar pieces appeared about January 31, 1851. They show an eagle on a rock with the fineness (880 or 887 THOUS.), UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the value, and an engine-turned reverse. The office was an assay office, not a branch of the Mint; the Treasury accepted its pieces for public dues until Congress stopped that in 1852. The engine-turned reverse has a small target with 50 at the center. The edge is lettered AUGUSTUS HUMBERT UNITED STATES ASSAYER OF GOLD CALIFORNIA 1851, and the value 50 D C is punched below the eagle. Adams credits the dies of the lettered-edge pieces to the New York engraver Charles C. Wright. Catalogue number: K-1. PCGS number 10199.

Cross References

K-1