1849 $10 Mormon MS(PCGS#10271)

December 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1448

等级

AU53

价格

5,505,509

详细说明

Legendary Rarity 1849 Mormon $10 Among the Finest of Approximately 10 Known The "Col." Green-Kern-Carter-Miller Specimen 1849 Mormon $10. K-3. Rarity-7. AU-53 (PCGS). CAC. The 1849 Mormon $10 from the Miller Collection is one of the finest known survivors of this exceedingly rare and seldom offered issue, and among the most significant territorial gold coins that we have ever had the privilege of bringing to auction. Our firm's first offering of this magnificent rarity was in Stack's January 1984 sale of the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Family Collection, where it was cataloged, in part, as: "Obverse: Bishop mitre or hat above all-seeing eye; HOLINESS TO THE LORD around. Reverse: Two clasped hands with 1849 below; PURE GOLD TEN DOLLARS around. About Uncirculated and choice. A lustrous coin with delicate orange toning. There is even the possibility that this coin never reached circulation but just has the faintest friction. Its rarity is legendary. It goes without saying that this coin is far and away the finest in existence." The cataloger was echoing B. Max Mehl's sentiment, for the famous Fort Worth, Texas dealer unhesitatingly declared this the "FINEST KNOWN SPECIMEN of the EXCEEDINGLY RARE MORMON TEN-DOLLAR COIN!" in his Jerome David Kern Collection (Gold Jubilee) Sale of May 1950). In the market of the 21st century only two other 1849 Mormon $10s of similar quality to the Kern-Carter-Miller specimen have been confirmed. The example in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution has an estimated grade of AU-55 and was retrieved from gold sent to the Mint for melt. That coin is permanently unavailable for private ownership. The other is the PCGS AU-58, which most recently appeared at auction (as NGC AU-58) as lot 5455 in Heritage's April 2014 sale of the Riverboat Collection (CSNS Signature Auction). In January 2014 P. Scott Rubin reported on the PCGS CoinFactswebsite that only 10 or so examples of the Mormon $10 are known in all grades. The Heritage catalogers provided a list of 11 specimens in grades from AU-58 through "VG details" in their cataloging of the Riverboat Collection. In addition to the aforementioned About Uncirculated example, a second Mormon $10 in lower grade is impounded in the Smithsonian, and two are owned by the Mormon Temple. This leaves at most seven confirmed examples available for private ownership, of which the Larry H. Miller specimen is the second finest certified. Our most significant offering for a Mormon gold coin in nearly 40 years, this famous rarity is destined for another world class numismatic cabinet. The Mormon Exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois in the 1840s proved to be a pivotal moment in the story of the California Gold Rush. Many of the early members of what would eventually develop into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fled conflicts with their neighbors and headed westward, eventually settling in the Great Salt Lake Valley and naming their new home the State of Deseret. Once established, the State of Deseret served as a launching point for further migrations toward California where numerous groups settled in and around the San Francisco area. Among these groups were veterans of the Mormon Battalion who had served during the Mexican-American War, and were employed by James W. Marshall at John Sutter's mill in Coloma, California. It was there on January 24, 1848, that Marshall discovered gold in the channel below the mill. The early Mormon presence in the region allowed them to take advantage of the newly found riches. The local community sent back a large quantity of gold to Salt Lake City that was used to pay the Church's tithes and alleviate economic hardships in Deseret. The gold influx was primarily in raw form, including large quantities of gold dust, which was soon employed as a medium of exchange. As with their brethren back in San Francisco, the Mormons living in the Great Salt Lake Valley soon discovered that the use of gold dust in commerce was problematic as it could be very easily adulterated. By the end of 1848, Brigham Young and John Kay announced plans to set up a small mint in Salt Lake City to process the gold dust into coin. The coins were designed by Young and the dies cut by Kay. The first coins, 25 $10 pieces, were struck on December 12, 1848, followed shortly thereafter by $2.50, $5, and $20 coins. As the first Mormon gold coins produced, the $10 pieces display simpler inscription on the reverse. Rather than the abbreviation G.S.L.C.P.G., for "Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold," the inscription states only PURE GOLD. Both expressions would prove to be inaccurate. There was no local source for the gold, so all bullion came from the shipments from California. In addition, because of the rather primitive minting and assay equipment, the purity and weight of the coins were consistently below face value, a situation that the coiners and assayers did not take into account. In 1850, Jacob Eckfeldt and William DuBois performed an assay of some of the Mormon coins at the Philadelphia Mint and recorded their findings in their work New Varieties of Gold and Silver Coins. They found that the coins were wanting in terms of valuation: "The weights are more irregular, and the values very deficient...The 5-dollar about 111 grains, $4.30." This huge discrepancy between face value and intrinsic value irreparably damaged the coins' reputation and, outside of the Great Salt Lake Valley at least, Mormon pieces would only be accepted in trade at steep discounts. In the end, the assay report doomed the Mormon coinage enterprise and by late 1850 the mint had shut down after producing approximately $70,000 in gold coins. Despite an attempt in 1860 to resume production, in which year additional $5 coins were produced, Mormon gold coins played no significant role in the economy of the region that what would become Utah. The 1849 $10 is the rarest issue in this brief series. It was rare from the start, in fact, with a mintage of 46 coins. In addition to the aforementioned 25 examples struck on December 12, 1848 -- the first Mormon gold coins -- an additional 21 coins were delivered the following week. According to records referenced by P. Scott Rubin, five examples from the initial 25-coin delivery were paid out on the day of striking, even though the coins were dated 1849. As with all Mormon gold issues, most examples of the 1849 $10 quickly ended up in melting pots. This, combined with the small mintage, explains the incredible rarity of this historic issue. Provenance: From the Larry H. Miller Collection. Earlier ex "Colonel" E.H.R. Green; Jerome David Kern; B. Max Mehl's Golden Jubilee Sale, May 1950, lot 728; Amon G. Carter, Sr.; Amon G. Carter, Jr.; our (Stack's) sale of the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Family Collection, January 1984, lot 1163; Heritage's ANA Sale of July 1988, lot 2691; Dwight Berger; Robert L. Hughes; Heritage's ANA Sale of August 1992, lot 2592; Heritage Auctions; Don Kagin. Combined PCGS and NGC Population: 1; 1 finer (AU-58 finest). Both of these coins have been certified by PCGS. CAC Population: 1; 0. PCGS# 10271. NGC ID: 2BCH. Click here for certification details from PCGS. Click here to see Coins in Motion. [“Coins]