1856 Gold Dollar - BG-512
Strike Type
Coin Details
Auction Record
- Price realized
- $13,800
- Sold
- Grade
- MS65
- Auction house
- American Numismatic Rarities
Description
This octagonal California gold dollar, dated 1856, is BG-512 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 reverse reads CALIFORNIA * GOLD * around 1 DOLLAR 1856, without maker's initials (Locke). Catalogue number: BG-512 (Breen-Gillio). PCGS number 10489.
Rarity Notes
R-7 (Breen-Gillio 2nd ed., as tabulated by Locke 2013)
Cross References
BG-512
External References
Error Varieties
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