1911 So-Called Dollar HK-851, AK Souvenir Gold

Coin Details

Description

Cataloged as HK-851, this 1911 Alaska Gold piece features denominations referencing the placer miner's method of measuring gold dust by pinching it between thumb and forefinger. The Alaska Gold Souvenirs occupy a unique niche in the so-called dollar catalog as among the smallest and most precious-metal-intensive pieces in the series. Their connection to the Klondike Gold Rush — one of the great adventure stories of American history — combined with genuine gold content and extreme rarity for many varieties makes them highly sought after by collectors of both so-called dollars and Western Americana. These tokens were produced by M.E. Hart (Mary Elizabeth Hart) and later sold by the legendary numismatic promoter Farran Zerbe as part of his 'Coins of the Golden West' set at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. The complete set of 36 pieces, offered in a Tiffany frame, encompassed Alaska pieces plus Minerva Bears, Indian Bears, and souvenir gold tokens from Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Many catalog numbers (HK-839 through HK-849) are known from no surviving examples, making the complete series virtually impossible to assemble. The so-called dollar collecting community has grown significantly since the Hibler-Kappen catalog's initial publication, with specialized dealers, dedicated reference works, and an active collector base supporting a market that values historical significance, artistic merit, rarity, and condition. Heritage Auctions, Stack's Bowers, and other major numismatic auction houses regularly feature so-called dollars in their sales.

Rarity Notes

Alaska Souvenir Gold pieces from the 1911 period are scarce to rare, with gold content ensuring that many were eventually melted. The HK-numbered pieces represent the cataloged so-called dollar-sized variants of a much larger family of Alaska gold souvenirs. Gold examples are particularly desirable to collectors of both so-called dollars and Alaska territorial numismatics.

Cross References

HK-851; PCGS #643589