Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 42

Pre-Long Beach Coin and Currency Auction

Territorial Gold Coins

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 3647		Christopher Bechtler, ONE DOLLAR CAROLINA, 28 gr., N reversed. Sharpness of Extremely Fine. Slightly bent with some scratches noted on the obverse. Estimated Value $700 - 800. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $1,955
Lot 3648		Christopher Bechtler, $2.50 GEORGIA, 64 gr. 22 carats. NCS graded Details of AU-50. Scratched and improperly cleaned. Lightly toned with semi reflective fields. All C. Bechtler gold pieces are scarce to rare, but the ones most often encountered are the gold dollars (a plentiful issue). The $2.50 pieces, on the other hand, were minted in low numbers and many were later turned in to be recoined into Federal gold pieces. All told, the Bechtlers minted only three denominations, but they covered a wide variety of weights and sizes. Christopher Bechtler, the founder of the company, operated his mint in Rutherford County, North Carolina. The mint produced gold from locally mined sources from 1830 until 1852. Red book value in AU is 16,000. Very rare (PCGS # 10073) . Estimated Value $12,000 - 13,000. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Unsold
Lot 3649		Christopher Bechtler, 5 DOLLARS GEORGIA, RUTHERFORD, 128 gr. 22 carats. Rarity 6+, Kagin 23. PCGS graded AU-50 PQ. Lovely orange and golden toning with reflective fields. A minor field scuff below the 1 of 128.C. but otherwise a Premium Quality coin. Bechtler coins were struck from native Georgia or Carolina gold mined locally. Bechtler and his heirs made their own dies, punches, presses, and other equipment; the output was of honest weight, and its variations from stated fineness were entirely from limitations in available technology. Between the mint's opening and about 1846 his establishment coined over $2.2 million; federal mint officials made no attempt to interfere, knowing that the Constitution was on Bechtler's side. For decades even after the Civil War, many people in the South never saw any other gold than Bechtler's. Pop 2; 8 finer, 3 in 53, 2 in 55, 1 in 58, 2 in 63 (PCGS # 10103) . Estimated Value $8,000 - 9,000. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $9,488
Lot 3650		1849 Norris, Gregg & Norris (San Francisco) $5 Gold. Plain edge. Bent. A nicely struck, toned example which lists in the red book at $27,500. Full clear "5" visible on the shield. Norris, Gregg & Norris issued what is considered to be the first of the California private gold coins. A newspaper account dated May 31, 1849, described a five-dollar gold coin, struck at Benicia City, though with the imprint San Francisco. It mentioned the private stamp of Norris, Gregg & Norris. The initials N.G.&N. were not identified until 1902, when the coins of Augustus Humbert were sold (PCGS # 10279) . Estimated Value $10,000 - 12,000. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Unsold
Lot 3651		1849 Norris, Gregg & Norris (San Francisco) $5 Gold. Reeded edge. . AU Details, Mount Removed. The surface roughness probably traces to this coin's use as jewelry by some lucky early possessor. Still, much of the legends is readable, and there is even a fair amount of feather detail showing on the eagle. This is one of the earliest private-label gold coins struck from California-mined gold. Estimated Value $5,000 - 5,500. View details and enlarged photos	Unsold
Lot 3652		1849 Moffat & Co. (San Francisco) $5 Gold PCGS VG8. Rarity 5, Kagin 4. PCGS graded VG-8. Evenly worn example housed in an old green holder, the perfect quality and price point for an entry-level collector into this strange, historic series of gold pieces struck from California gold rush bullion! (PCGS # 10240) . Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,100. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Unsold
Lot 3653		1849 Moffat & Co. (San Francisco) $5 Gold. . AU Details, Mount removed, Tooled. Nice orange and gold toning. A sharp example of the $5 denomination from this early California minter, all of the design features show their detail, including MOFFAT & CO which is inscribe on the headband in place of the usual LIBERTY that is found on federal coinage. Estimated Value $1,400 - 1,500. View details and enlarged photos	Unsold
Lot 3654		1849 Moffat & Co. (San Francisco) TEN DOL. . XF Details, Improperly cleaned. This is one of the most popularly collected early Territorial pieces, struck the first year that the California Gold Rush got underway in earnest (gold was discovered in 1848, but the flood of eager seekers started turning up the next year). Moffat's coinage was accepted widely throughout the West for many years until the U.S. Mint was built in San Francisco (1854). Normal wear; light field abrasions and a couple of small edge bruises. Scarce. Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,000. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $3,220
Lot 3655		1853 U.S. Assay Office $20 Gold, 900 THOUS. NGC graded MS-61. Well struck and lightly toned. A perfect opportunity for the collector to acquire a frosty Mint State "Type" example of a U.S. Assay Office $20 gold piece. In their day (before the establishment of the San Francisco Mint), these gold pieces minted from gold rush bullion were the workhorses of commerce up and down the West Coast. Mainly found in grades ranging from Extremely Fine to About Uncirculated, only a few were saved in Mint condition even though quite a few were produced. Collectors like them because they are the more affordable territorial gold coins. Curiously, due to the contract with the Assay Office, these are official issues of the United States Government. As such, these are overlap the regular collectible $20 gold issues that superceded them in 1854. A well struck example with the feather, shield and breast detail virtually complete in their definition. Muted though still frosty luster. A couple of small rim marks. Pop 31. Estimated Value $10,000 - 12,000. View details and enlarged photos	Realized $10,200
Lot 3656		1855 Kellogg & Co. (San Francisco) $50 Gold Commemorative Restrike. PCGS graded Gem Uncirculated. Struck in San Francisco September 7, 2001. These huge gold coins were struck from transfer dies made from the original 1855 Kellogg and Company dies. The planchets were made from original Kellogg and Humbert assayers gold ingots recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure. This coin has a stamp on the reverse above the eagle showing "Struck September 7, 2001. C.H.S." (California Historical Society). This coin also bears an inscription "S.S. Central American Gold. C.H.S. " on the reverse ribbon. This coin is listed in the Guide Book on page 363. This coin comes with a custom hand-hammered copper frame with gold imprinted purple ribbons -- modeled after the San Francisco Jewelers Shreve & Co., for the famous 1915-S Panama-Pacific commemorative coins, and all is housed in a custom box. Less than 500 of these were minted in Uncirculated condition. A truly historic commemorative coin struck from the actual gold recovered from the S.S. Central America ship wreck. Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,500. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $3,105
Lot 3657		1860 Clark, Gruber & Co. (Denver, Colorado) $10 Gold. PCGS graded AU-58 PQ. Lovely golden toning on this Premium Quality coin. Two minor planchet flakes near the top of K and G on the obverse. A glistening example with a luxurious display of original luster remaining around and within the devices, and agreeable color on both sides. Wonderfully socked by the dies, as well, indeed fully so at the fanciful "peak" first recorded by Zebulon Pike on his journey of discovery in 1806. Clark, Gruber and Company is the most famous Colorado private gold minter. The Pike's Peak gold rush began in 1859 but word of the discovery begand to spread East, West, South and North in the Fall of 1858. To further spark the public's interest, unbelievable fabrications began to appear in print, as though the mere reporting would establish the facts. On 18 September, 1858, the Wyandotte Gazette published a "reliable" account concerning $10,000 in gold dust which had come in from Pike's Peak: "One man brought in $600.00 as the result of a few weeks work. A small boy had $1,000,which he says 'he dug down and found,' and the little fellow says 'he can get all he wants.'" This undocumented account was reprinted in the Missouri Democrat on 24 September, and followed the next day by the report of a merchant from St. Joseph, who had come to St. Louis to buy a supply of bacon for the Pike's Peak trade. This and thousands of other newspaper accounts acted like a magnet to draw hopeful gold seekers to the region from which this $10 gold coin is an all-too-solid reminder of those half-forgotten days. Pop 6; 14 finer, 1 in 60, 4 in 61, 7 in 62, 2 in 63 (PCGS # 10137) . Estimated Value $20,000 - 25,000. Ex: Bowers and Ruddy The Garrett Collection Part I Nov. 1979 Lot 536. Ex: Aulick Collection Ex: The Brentwood Park Estate. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $35,650
Lot 3658		1861 Clark, Gruber & Co. (Denver, Colorado) $10 Gold. PCGS graded AU-58. Lovely light golden toning with semi reflective fields, and another formidable example of Colorado gold with sharp, crisp detail throughout. The PIKES PEAK legend on Liberty's coronet is completely readable, and as well, all her hair curls are plain to see, including those at the top of the head, on the hair bun, and dangling down her neck. The eagle on these tends to be a trifle shallow in detail at the upper neck, but generally, this particular specimen was above the rest in its overall excellence and careful preservation by former owners. It also carries the famous Garrett cache! Pop 14; 1 finer in 61 (PCGS # 10141) . Estimated Value $9,000 - 10,000. Ex: Bowers and Ruddy The Garrett Collection Part I Nov. 1979 Lot 539. Before Ex: The Col. James W. Ellsworth Collection Ex: The Brentwood Park Estate. View details and enlarged photos Check results on similar lots	Realized $17,825