1853 "884" $20 U.S. Assay Office MS(PCGS#10010)

August 2019 ANA U.S. Coins Auction Rosemont, IL

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

5472

等级

MS61

价格

271,047

详细说明

Important Mint State 1853 Assay Office $20 Gold Rare 884 THOUS. Variety The Eliasberg Specimen 1853 United States Assay Office of Gold $20. K-17. Rarity-7-. 884 THOUS. MS-61 (PCGS). An intensely lustrous yellow gold specimen with lively olive iridescence in the fields and frosty rose-orange highlights in the protected areas around and among some of the design elements. Surface blemishes are minimal to the unaided eye, especially given the assigned grade. The strike is bold for the issue, with strong central details to the eagle -- an area that is, more often than not, impressed with far less detail than here. The word LIBERTY is likewise sharp and readable on the ribbon. Among the finest examples of this type certified by PCGS, and rightfully so. The United States Assay Office of Gold is as much part of the story of the California Gold Rush as the 1848 discovery of gold along the banks of the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Sutter's Mill near Coloma. In 1849 John Little Moffat and his three partners, Joseph R. Curtis, Philo H. Perry, and Samuel H. Ward established the private assaying and refining business of Moffat & Company in San Francisco. Soon thereafter, Moffat & Co. began producing circulating gold ingots as well as $5 gold pieces at their facilities located at the corner of Clay and Dupont streets. The company quickly garnered an excellent reputation and their business thrived, unlike many of the early pioneer assay and coining firms. The rapid influx of "Forty-niners" to the gold fields hoping to find their fortune resulted in an acute shortage of circulating currency. Even though there were proposals to establish a branch mint as early as 1849, competing political interests delayed action. Finally, Congress passed a compromise bill on September 30, 1850 which established the United States Assay Office. Not long after passage of the act, Moffat & Co. received the contract to function as the Assay Office with New York watchmaker and engraver Augustus Humbert appointed as United States Assayer. Moffat & Co. continued operation as before until January 1852 when Moffat sold his interest to his partners. Under the dissolution terms, the remaining partnership of Curtis, Perry and Ward would retain the Moffat & Company corporate name and continue to strike circulating ingots under government contract. On February 14, the remaining partners dispensed with the Moffat & Co. name and officially formed the United States Assay Office of Gold. Even though they bore the name of the United States Assay Office of Gold, the coins carried no legal tender status. Because the office lacked equipment to refine gold to federal standards of 90% gold and 10% copper, the coins were struck in .880, .884, and .887 fine gold. Beginning in 1852, the office began to produce $10 and $20 gold pieces in .884 fine gold. When sets of dies were originally prepared under Humbert's direction, the original order set the fineness at 880 THOUS, but this was soon changed to 884 before any coins were struck. Evidence of this alteration can be seen on the present example in the form of traces of the original 0 under the 4. Pressure to conform to the legal gold alloy eventually compelled the firm to start producing coins at the mandated standard, albeit using the naturally occurring gold and silver alloy. The United States Assay Office of Gold ceased operations on December 14, 1853, in anticipation of the opening of the San Francisco Mint. The firm supplied both the building and machinery for the new United States branch mint, its location on Commercial Street near Montgomery being the site were the San Francisco Mint struck its first Liberty Head double eagles on April 15, 1854. Once the mint was in operation, the coins of the U.S. Assay Office of Gold very quickly disappeared into the San Francisco Mint's melting pots. Today, the $20 gold pieces struck in .884 fine gold are very scarce in any condition even among the rarified world of territorial gold coins. At the Uncirculated level of preservation, the issue is exceedingly rare with only six grading events recorded at PCGS. Clearly this is an exceptionally well preserved survivor of an historic issue that will soon reside in an advanced holding of pioneer gold. Provenance: From our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, May 1996, lot 348; our sale of the Rajj Collection, August 2011 Chicago ANA Sale, lot 7551. PCGS Population: 3; 3 finer (MS-63 finest). PCGS# 10010. NGC ID: ANHC. Click here for certification details from PCGS.