1855 Gold Dollar - BG-533a
Strike TypeCoin Details
Description
This octagonal California gold dollar, dated 1855, is BG-533a 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). The NGC census lists BG-533a as struck in silver (NGC 819314); Locke notes silver pieces on thick planchets of BG-533. Catalogue number: BG-533a (Breen-Gillio). PCGS number 45447.
Cross References
BG-533a
External References
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