1853 Round Liberty 50c Gold (BG-429) NGC MS62PL Mint State Proof Like
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1853 Round Liberty 50c Gold (BG-429) NGC MS62PL Mint State Proof Like :
$2500.00
52states sale Item Description
1853 Round Liberty 50c Gold (BG-429) NGC MS62PL Mint State Proof Like 1 Pop and Finest Grade Known
Numismatic Guaranty Grading Corporation NGC MS62PL Mint State Proof Like
Numismatic Guaranty Grading Corporation NGC #1802487-001
As NGC has grown to become the leader in third-party grading services, we have maintained a steadfast and uncompromising commitment to this standard. The knowledge, integrity and dedication of NGC\'s team of numismatic professionals ensures you a level of grading consistency unparalleled among grading services. This record of consistency, built over the years, has helped to foster greater stability throughout the rare coin marketplace.
is so much like the United States gold dollar piece, that the best judges
would be completely deceived at a first glance. The half dollar is lighter
in color, and somewhat smaller in diameter, than the dollar. They are of
a private issue, and have stamped on them, “Half-Dollar, California Gold,
1852.”How much significance can be placed upon the reference to this item as “California money” remains a point of controversy.By the end of 1853 a number of other such pieces had appeared, completing the series of the three denominations in both round and octagonal shapes. A “time capsule” of monetary conditions at this time is provided by the wreck of the Steamer Winfield Scott. This ship was operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to carry passengers and cargo between San Francisco and Panama. On December 1, 1853, she left San Francisco bound for Panama with about 400 passengers and $884,861.50 in treasure. Two days out she was caught in a storm and ran aground 30 miles west of Santa Barbara. The passengers and most of the treasure were rescued. What was left behind were mainly items of small value abandoned by the passengers in their haste to flee the ship.In 1965 a California scuba diver discovered the wreck of the Winfield Scott and began salvaging it on weekends. Other divers visited the site also over a period of years extending into the early 1970’s. From articles they have written and a record kept by the dealer who purchased many of the coins found, the following picture has emerged:A total of 59 coins were recovered, of which 33 were private California gold $ ¼ to $10 (56% of the total); thirty-two $1 coins were found, 17 of them California gold (53% of the total). There were also seven or more gold nuggets. Every shape and denomination of small California gold except round $1 pieces was recovered. This would appear to indicate that fractional California gold either formed a substantial part of the small change in circulation in San Francisco in late 1853, or was being shipped East as souvenirs. Many pieces of this era are frequently found in circulated condition or with bagmarks, but a large proportion are in high grade.Additional questions can be raised concerning the circulation of these pieces:There is no period California reference yet known stating that these coins circulated, although the existence in California of American and foreign fractional silver coins was occasionally mentioned.1. On these issues there are no initials or other marks indicating minting by any of the major private gold coiners, e.g., Moffat & Co. or Kellogg & Co., leading one to believe that they did not produce any of these fractional gold pieces. Since these firms were already in the business of issuing coins it would have been relatively easy for them to strike these smaller pieces. It is conceivable that they did not choose to issue the fractional coins since they would have yielded smaller profits on a per coin basis than the higher denomination coins. It might also have been that there was thought to be no need for fractional gold coins in California at that time.2. All of these pieces, especially those dated after 1860, are underweight, and many of them are very deficient in intrinsic value. With all the publicity against the larger denomination pieces being overvalued, way is there not a single reference to these, unless they were issued as souvenirs and not for circulation.3. By the late 1850’s the chaotic currency situation in California had changed completely. Silver quarters and half dollars had been issued in such quantity by the new San Francisco Mint that they actually sold at a discount from face value from 1858 or 1859 until 1873. When the manufacture of small California gold pieces was resumed in 1859 after a hiatus of two years, it is clear that they were not intended for circulation. These later pieces are thinner and lighter than the early issues and are normally found in extremely fine condition, or better. Many prooflike pieces exist, further evidence that currency use was not expected The Private Coinage Law of 1864 prohibited the manufacture of all private gold coins intended for use as current money, but was ignored by the makers of fractional gold pieces, evidently in the belief that their products were not coins.But if the later-made pieces were not coins, what were they? Souvenirs of California, certainly; the U. S. Mint Cabinet’s account book for November 25, 1862, calls them “California pocket-pieces.” Hershfield & Mitchell of Leavenworth, Kansas, makers in 1871 only, described their products as “tokens or charms” and “trinkets.” (They were arrested anyway, charged with violating the Private Coinage Law of 1864. The U. S. Mint assayed their half dollar and found it to have a value of just 17 cents.) F. C. Suhr, a jeweler in San Bernardino, California, told the Secret Service in 1883 that the gold 25cent and 50cent pieces he sold were used “as bangles. His female customers would purchase them, he would drill a hole through them and attach them to the bracelets or necklaces with a short chain.”The final suppression of fractional gold coins came in 1883, when Col. Henry Finnegass, Chief Operative, San Francisco District, U. S. Secret Service, received a letter from his superior – James J. Brooks, Chief, U. S. Secret Service. This letter, dated February 20, 1883, complained that Frederick Linde, a Los Angeles jeweler, “has been furnishing a Mr. Kunz of Wellington, Ohio, with large quantities of 25 cent and 50 cent pieces.” Col. Finnegass set out for Los Angeles on March 4 to investigate. He arrived March 5 and went straight to Linde’s store, where he saw a number of fractional gold coins in the show window. Mr. Linde himself was out, but a clerk sold him a set of one 50 cent and one 25 cent for 75 cents. Later Col. Finnegass returned, identified himself and his mission to Linde, who by then was badly scared, and seized Linde’s whole stock of the pieces.Following this action Col. Finnegass seized “bangles” from several other jewelers in California. On March 15 he discussed prosecution of these persons with United States Attorney Hilborn and Carrol Cook, his assistant. Mr. Hilborn was not quite certain that an offense had been committed, but after urging by Reneges, agreed to refer the matter to the Attorney General of the United States for an opinion. Before a reply could be received, Col. Finnegass visited the establishment of H. J. Brand, Manufacturing Jeweler, 230 Kearny Street, San Francisco, by then apparently the only remaining maker of such items. As a result of this visit, Brand promised “that he would not hereafter manufacture the pieces.” On Monday, April 16, authority was received from Washington in the form of a letter signed by J. H. Robinson, Acting Solicitor of the Treasury, confirming Col. Finnegass’s position. By June 9, 1883, Col. Finnegass was able to write to jeweler Linde that he had entirely suppressed the trade in fractional gold coins in California, and added, “I shall do all in my power to break up the traffic in those coins.” Though very effective, Col. Finnegass’s zealousness in this regard is hard to understand, since he himself officially reported that “I have not heard of a single instance in which those pieces have been sold or passed as coins on this coast either without or within the limits of my District.”!
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