1861 Clark, Gruber & Co. Twenty Dollar Fantasy

Coin Details

Description

This piece in the 1861 Clark, Gruber & Co. twenty-dollar design is catalogued by PCGS as a fantasy. Austin M. Clark, Milton E. Clark and Emanuel H. Gruber ran a brokerage firm in Leavenworth, Kansas, and opened an office in Denver during the Pikes Peak gold rush. To save the cost of shipping gold dust east they opened a mint in a two-story brick building at Market and 16th Streets on July 25, 1860, first striking ten-dollar pieces showing a mountain with PIKES PEAK GOLD and DENVER, and soon twenty-, five- and two-and-a-half-dollar pieces. Over almost three years they coined $594,305 in gold, and in April 1863 the Treasury bought the building, which became a United States Assay Office. It is not part of the firm's coinage. PCGS number 10185.