1852 California Gold $50 - "887" $50 RE Augustus Humbert

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This is the 1852 Humbert octagonal fifty-dollar piece at 887 THOUS. with a reeded 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 it as made from new dies, with the ends of the label turned outward. On the reeded-edge pieces Humbert's name and the date move to the border of the obverse and FIFTY DOLLS. is cut into the die; Adams credits these dies to Albert Kuner. The reverse has a small target at the center of the engine-turning. Catalogue number: K-11. PCGS number 10217.

Cross References

K-11