1849 $2.50 Mormon MS (PCGS#10259)
August 2011 Chicago ANA - Rarities Night
- 拍卖行
- Stack's Bowers
- 批号
- 7565
- 等级
- AU55
- 价格
- 550,940
- 详细说明
- 1849 Mormon $2.50 Gold. K-1. Rarity-5+. AU-55 (PCGS). CAC. Deep honey gold with olive highlights and traces of luster in the protected areas. Modestly circulated but not noticeably marked to the unassisted eye. The devices are sharp despite circulation, with full all-seeing-eye details and with all the finger details of the clasped hands separated; two tiny centering dots on the reverse resemble a ring on one of the fingers of the lower of the two hands. Obverse swelling noted at the periphery, a sign of a worn and collapsing die. With the influx of California gold into Deseret Territory (the Great Salt Lake region), Mormon leader Brigham Young decided to have a separate coinage for his followers. In November 1848, Young, along with John Taylor, made arrangements with John Mobourn Kay, formerly associated with one of the Birmingham, England private mints, for a local coinage. The dies were engraved by Kay and Robert L. Campbell, and the planchets made by Kay and Alfred B. Lambson. After much trial and error, including broken crucibles and other shortcomings, much of the ensuing coinage was finally put into motion at the "Deseret Mint," actually the home of Dr. William Sharp. The obverse die features a central bishop's mitre or cap above the all-seeing-eye motif, with HOLINESS TO THE LORD around. The reverse features clasped hands with the date immediately below, and with G.S.L.C.P.G. (Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold) arcing above and TWO.AND.HALF.DO. curving below. Pleasing examples of this desirable link to Deseret Territory come on the market with modest regularity, but attractive, mark-free specimens are the exception, not the general rule. The present piece should be a welcomed addition to any Gold Rush-era collection.<br /> <br /> <strong>Numismatic Reflections by Q. David Bowers</strong><br /> Mormon gold coins of 1849 and 1850, when seen, are usually in VF or EF grades as these coins circulated widely under the direction and supervisio
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