Half Dollar Round, Period 1 (BG-401 to BG-436)

About This Coin

This group holds the round gold half dollars of Breen and Gillio's first period, BG-401 to BG-436, 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-405 and BG-406 to Frontier, Deviercy & Co., BG-415 to BG-425 to M. Deriberpe and BG-428 to BG-434 to Antoine Louis Nouizillet; Dan Owens found that Deriberpe, Nouizillet and Isadore Routhier were arrested in April 1853 on a charge of counterfeiting Wass, Molitor & Co. ten-dollar pieces. Most of these pieces have a Liberty head; several have an eagle reverse, and BG-435 shows the arms of California. No record gives the number struck of any of them.