1851 Proof California Gold $50 - $50 LE Humbert, Copper

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Description

This is a copper proof of the 1851 Humbert fifty-dollar design with a lettered edge. 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. Adams describes two bronze patterns of 1851 with blanks for the fineness and value (THOUS. and D C DWT GRS), one with the edge lettered and signed by Wright, one with a plain edge. PCGS number 10209.