By Greg Cohen – Senior Numismatist, Stack’s Bowers Galleries ……
Proper on the heels of our record-breaking sale of the 1850 Baldwin $10 “Horseman”, which achieved $1.26 million in our November Rarities Night time, one other iconic territorial rarity–an 1849 Pacific Firm $5 Gold Piece–will cross the block in Lot 1253 of the Stack’s Bowers Galleries February 2025 Rarities Night time.
An In poor health-Fated Enterprise
The Pacific Firm was one of many earliest of the personal mints established in California throughout the Gold Rush. It’s extensively accepted that the Pacific Firm shaped in Boston on January 8, 1849, by John W. Cartwright is the group initially behind the Pacific Firm coinage. Composed of 38 subscribers who contributed $1,000 every to affix, the Pacific Firm purchased and outfitted the vessel York. Included of their gear had been units of dies for a deliberate concern of $1, $2.50, $5, and $10 gold items. The 4 denominations all bear a model of the identical design: on the obverse is a Liberty cap with stars and rays (intently resembling Mexican silver cash of the interval) with the denomination indicated beneath and on the reverse is a heraldic eagle clutching an olive department and hammer surrounded by the legend PACIFIC COMPANY, CALIFORNIA. and date 1849.
York sailed out of Boston Harbor on April 1, 1849, and arrived in San Francisco Bay on September 16. One of many firm members presciently noticed in his diary that “[a]ll that board us say that our firm will break up as all others have achieved.” That’s certainly what occurred not lengthy after the celebration arrived at their vacation spot of Benicia on October 8. Scarcely 12 days later, the Pacific Firm was formally dissolved, and its members went their separate methods with out having struck a single gold coin.
Creation of the 1849 Pacific Firm $5 Gold Piece
Primarily based on an intensive evaluation of surviving Pacific Firm cash, the dies apparently got here into the possession of well-established assay firm Broderick & Kohler in San Francisco quickly after the unique firm’s dissolution. One Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson, a former commander of a regiment of New York volunteers and a veteran of the Mexican Struggle, discovered early success within the Gold Rush. He introduced in fellow New Yorkers Frederick D. Kohler and David C. Broderick to start an assay and refining agency that quickly branched out into coining utilizing the Pacific Firm dies. Broderick & Kohler used the dies with no modification to provide their very own coinage, primarily consisting of $5 and $10 items. In contrast to most personal coiners, Broderick & Kohler didn’t use a screw press however as an alternative produced their cash utilizing a sledgehammer.
When the cash had been launched into day by day commerce, initially they had been accepted at par below the premise that something was higher than utilizing uncooked gold mud and placer gold. Nevertheless, like many different of the earliest personal coiners throughout the Gold Rush, the coin’s purity was inconsistent at greatest, principally based mostly on the fineness of the metallic as initially mined with out a lot additional refinement. Whereas some coiners tried to compensate for this by making their cash heavier, the Pacific Firm cash weren’t, incomes the enterprise an honest return on funding whereas short-changing the general public who used the cash.
The Finish of Broderick & Kohler
This enterprise mannequin fared effectively for each Broderick and Kohler due to the excessive revenue margin, and, mixed with profitable actual property investments, they quickly had been capable of shutter their assay and coining enterprise. Broderick was elected state senator in January 1850 and left the partnership. Kohler carried on till March earlier than shuttering the enterprise and promoting off all of the agency’s gear to Baldwin & Co., lengthy earlier than the comparatively low purity of their product was found.
When examples of the $5 and $10 cash had been assayed by the United States Mint at Philadelphia in 1851, they had been discovered to have an intrinsic worth of $4.48 and an astonishingly low $7.76, respectively – among the many lowest of the personal issuers on the time. As soon as information of the poor assays reached California, the cash had been promptly rejected as sub-par and shortly discovered themselves in melting pots, accounting for the great rarity of any Pacific Firm concern at this time. Regardless of the assay outcomes, Kohler and Broderick’s reputations seem to haven’t been considerably impacted. Kohler turned State Assayer the next month and continued in native public service till his demise in 1864. Broderick was ultimately elected U.S. Senator for California in 1857, an workplace he held till he was killed in a duel in 1859.
The Most interesting Recognized 1849 Pacific Firm $5 Gold
The piece featured in Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ upcoming public sale is the best of solely 4 recognized examples, pedigreed to the Garrett Assortment and graded AU58 by PCGS and permitted by CAC. Because the best recognized for this intriguing and exceedingly uncommon concern, the importance of the Garrett specimen for superior collectors of Non-public and Territorial Gold coinage can’t be overstated. Its providing within the February Rarities Night time sale represents a singular alternative that’s worthy of the strongest bids and most aggressive technique. As soon as this specimen sells, it could be a few years, if not a long time, earlier than there may be one other alternative to amass a Pacific Firm gold coin of any denomination.
The coin is an excellent Selection About Uncirculated instance with dominant honey-gold coloration on frosty surfaces. Either side retain considerable mint luster, and the fields are semi-reflective, with vivid reddish-rose iridescence outlining the design parts. The strike is effectively executed for the kind, the element typically sharp with simply the attribute softness to the eagle’s breast and legs within the heart of the reverse. That facet is rotated barely greater than 90 levels clockwise from coin alignment. There are minor dealing with marks scattered about, all of that are simply neglected in hand, whereas a shallow planchet flaw within the higher proper reverse discipline is as-made and serves as essentially the most helpful identifier.
The 4 recognized 1849 Pacific Firm $5 Gold Items are as follows:
PCGS/CAC AU58: Ex our (Bowers and Ruddy’s) sale of the Garrett Assortment for The Johns Hopkins College, Half II, March 1980, lot 935; Heritage’s sale of the Riverboat Assortment, April 2014 CSNS Signature Public sale, lot 5433. The current instance. The early provenance of this coin is unknown, though it could have been acquired by T. Harrison Garrett within the nineteenth century. It’s not included within the stock of territorial and colonial cash that John Work Garrett bought from Col. James Ellsworth in 1923. A grading occasion on the AU58+ * stage that also seems within the NGC Census is believed to discuss with an earlier certification of this coin.
NGC EF45: Ex DeWitt Smith; Virgil Model in 1908; Horace Model; Robert Friedberg; Kreisberg-Schulman’s Model-Lichtenfels Collections sale, March 1964, lot 2211; our (Stack’s) sale of the Gibson Assortment, November 1974, lot 200; our (Stack’s) sale of September 1981, lot 417; our (Stack’s) sale of the Coles Assortment, October 1983, lot 252; Pacific Coast Public sale Galleries’ Lengthy Seashore Sale of June 1987, lot 1813; Paul Padget; Stuart Levine and Donald Kagin; personal assortment.
AU50: per David McCarthy. Mint Cupboard; Smithsonian Establishment.
Grade Unknown: Ex Waldo Newcomer; presumably “Col.” E.H.R. Inexperienced; Charles Williams; Willis duPont, acquired ca. 1951, per Walter Breen; stolen from the duPont Assortment in 1967 and never but recovered.
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For details about consigning to future Stack’s Bowers Galleries auctions, name 800-458-4646 or electronic mail [email protected].
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