By Greg Cohen – Senior Numismatist, Stack’s Bowers Galleries ……
Among the many most distinctive of all cash struck utilizing the gold mined within the American West after it was found in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill is the 1850 Baldwin & Co. $10 gold piece, identified to collectors because the Vaquero, or “horseman”. One of many best identified examples of this extremely uncommon and delightful kind will likely be featured as a part of the extraordinary Robert D. Reed Assortment within the Stack’s Bowers November 2024 Showcase Public sale.
Robert Reed collected gold cash, primarily United States points, however with a smattering of historic and world cash as effectively. He bought from Stack’s auctions, fastened tariffs, and personal over-the-counter gross sales, usually between 1986 and 1996. Throughout that decade or so, he quietly assembled an unimaginable cupboard, the US portion of which will likely be provided in our November 2024 Showcase Public sale.
Dies by A. Kuner for the Baldwin $10 characteristic a vaquero (Spanish for “cowboy”) on the obverse in conventional Mexican garb, driving on horseback with a lasso, CALIFORNIA GOLD, TEN DOLLARS. and the date 1850. The reverse shows an eagle just like that on federal $10 gold items, with BALDWIN & Co. above and SAN FRANCISCO. under. 5 stars on both sides full the body across the eagle.
A particularly uncommon kind, there are fewer than two dozen examples thought to outlive, most of that are within the AU to decrease Mint State vary. The best graded is a PCGS MS64+, a coin for which PCGS CoinFacts doesn’t listing a pedigree. The Reed Assortment instance has been off the market since our (Stack’s) October 5, 1988, sale of Uncommon and Essential United States Gold Cash, and has been lately graded as MS63+ by PCGS. This beautiful coin was beforehand a part of the in depth John A. Beck Assortment offered by Abner Kreisberg in January 1975, the place it was lot 714.
Boldly and brilliantly lustrous, the surfaces of this 1850 Baldwin “Horseman” $10 gold piece (lot 3283) are ultra-flashy with a mix of swirling cartwheels and semi-prooflike reflectivity. The units are impeccably effectively struck with razor sharp definition all through. None have offered in public sale in a decade, for the reason that MS61 (PCGS) Riverboat Assortment instance was offered for a document $381,875 in April 2014. The presently provided MS63+ will simply surpass that when the hammer falls.
For extra details about consigning to the Stack’s Bowers Galleries November Showcase Public sale name 800-458-4646 or e mail [email protected].
* * *