1860 $10 Clark, Gruber & Co. MS(PCGS#10137)

August 2011 Chicago ANA - Rarities Night

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

7569

等级

MS62

价格

356,275

详细说明

1860 Clark, Gruber & Co. $10 Gold. K-3. Rarity-5. MS-62 (PCGS). A frosty,&nbsp;highly&nbsp;lustrous yellow gold example with&nbsp;lively olive highlights and boldly impressed design elements. No marks of consequence are seen by the unassisted eye. A classic issue with a rather inept mountain design on the obverse; evidently the artist&nbsp;had&nbsp;never seen Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs, and went instead with a tall, triangular peak resembling nothing more than a South Seas volcano.&nbsp;PIKES PEAK GOLD arcs above the mountain, DENVER is directly below the base, and TEN D. curves below. Struck in the Territory of Jefferson as it was known in 1859 and 1860; the Colorado name would not be adopted until 1861.&nbsp;Clark, Gruber & Co. were notable bankers, brokers, assayers, and later, minters. As noted in Breen's 1988 <em>Encyclopedia,</em> "It has been well said that the history of the beginning of commerce in Colorado Territory is the history of this firm." Located at the intersection of McGaa and G Streets in Denver City, the firm's '"coinage office" produced trial strikings of four denominations&mdash;quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle, and double eagle&mdash;on July 11, 1860. By July 20 local bigwigs and the press were invited to the office to witness the first coinage by the firm,&nbsp;in this case $10 gold pieces, about 100 pieces all told. An early advertisement by Clark, Gruber & Co. appearing&nbsp;in the&nbsp;August 8, 1860&nbsp;edition of&nbsp;the <em>Rocky Mountain News </em>and again the next day in the <em>Western Mountaineer, </em>specified that "The native gold is coined as it is found alloyed with silver. The weight will be greater, but the value the same as the United States coin of like denominations." The in-hand quality of the present coin almost literally speaks for itself, for it is that fine. Choice for the grade is about as accurate as we can be, but you are the ultimate judge. If a nice "Mountain Ten" is on your shopping list, you'll do well