1849 $2.50 Mormon MS(PCGS#10259)

1849 $2.50 Mormon MS (PCGS#10259)

The November 2011 Baltimore Auction

拍卖行: Stack's Bowers

批号: 9127

等级: XF45

价格: 264,453

详细说明: 1849 Mormon $2.50 Gold. K-1. Rarity-5+. EF-45 (PCGS). Bright yellow gold with olive highlights. Only faintly marked despite its obvious use in commerce in the Salt Lake City area, with no single mark deserving of our written recognition. Obverse clasped hands details complete if faint, 1 in date not evident, 8 weak at the bottom, all-seeing eye on reverse complete. Obverse legend G.S.L.C.P.G. (Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold) and TWO.AND.HALF.DO. strong, as is HOLINESS TO THE LORD on the reverse. The reverse die was collapsing at the periphery when this specimen was struck, as attested to by the planchet swelling throughout the legend. As noted in the Red Book: ""Brigham Young was the instigator of the coinage system and personally supervised the mint, which was housed in a little adobe building in Salt Lake City. The mint was inaugurated late in 1848 as a public convenience."" Scarcer than its $5 counterpart of the same general design and date. Historical notes expanding on the above: In the autumn of 1848, Mormons returning from California brought large quantities of gold dust into the Great Salt Lake area. Mormon Island, located downstream from Sutter’s Mill at Coloma on the American River, was one of the richer gold deposits during the early days of discovery. Mormons were among the most active miners during the early part of the era, and gold estimated to have been worth several million dollars was located by them.  In the settlement at Great Salt Lake, called the State of Deseret (deseret = honeybee, a Mormon symbol of industriousness), Dr. Willard Richards, an official of the Mormon Church, weighed the gold dust and distributed it in paper packages which contained from $1 to $20 in value. In November 1848 coinage designs were formulated. Each piece was to depict on one side the priesthood emblem, a 3-point Phrygian crown over the all-seeing eye of Jehovah, with the phrase “Holiness to th

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