1852 Augustus Humbert Gold Eagle

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This is the 1852 Humbert ten-dollar gold piece with a normal date. 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. Greysheet lists later die states and a variety with CALIFORNIA set to the left (K-10a and K-10b). Catalogue number: K-10. PCGS number 10187.

Cross References

K-10