1853 Gold Dollar - BG-501, Eagle, "Humbert"

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This octagonal California gold dollar, undated, is BG-501 in the Breen-Gillio catalogue of California fractional gold and belongs to Period One (1852-1857). Period One pieces were struck privately in San Francisco from 1852 to 1857 to stand in for small change, which was short in Gold Rush California; most of them weigh well under the gold value of their face (Locke 2013). Their eight-sided shape is that of the octagonal fifty-dollar pieces of the United States Assay Office, a likeness one miner pointed out in an 1854 letter (Chandler). It carries no date; PCGS attributes it to 1853. The Liberty head has 13 stars, and the reverse shows a small eagle copied from the one on Augustus Humbert's octagonal fifty-dollar pieces, with CALIFORNIA GOLD ONE DOL. around it (Locke). The eagle is borrowed from Humbert's design; Locke attributes the piece to Frontier & Deviercy, not to Humbert. Catalogue number: BG-501 (Breen-Gillio). PCGS number 10478.

Rarity Notes

R-5 (Breen-Gillio 2nd ed., as tabulated by Locke 2013)

Cross References

BG-501