Half Dollar Octagonal, Period 1 (BG-301 to BG-399)

About This Coin

This group holds the octagonal gold half dollars of Breen and Gillio's first period, numbered from BG-301 and dated 1852 to 1856. Breen and Gillio's first period (1852 to 1857 in their second edition, 1852 to 1856 in the first) holds the gold pieces that San Francisco jewelers made while the city was short of small change, and a New York Times dispatch of May 1853 reported dollar and half-dollar gold pieces as a new local issue. MacMillan's table compiled from Breen's Encyclopedia credits BG-303 to BG-307 to Frontier, Deviercy & Co. and BG-308 to Antoine Louis Nouizillet, and auction descriptions give BG-301 and BG-302 to Frontier, Deviercy & Co. as well. BG-301 carries an eagle on the reverse and BG-302 and BG-303 the small rayed eagle that collectors call the "Peacock"; the others have a Liberty head and a wreath with the date and denomination. No record gives the number struck of any of them.