KELLOGG AND COMPANY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
PROOF FIFTY-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE OF 1855
THE PROPERTY OF A WEST COAST INSTITUTION
Kellogg and Co., San Francisco, Gold Fifty-Dollars, 1855, the obverse with a head of Liberty facing left, KELLOGG & CO on the crest of her diadem, the signature of the engraver F(erdinand) GRUNER in small letters at the truncation of the bust, thirteen stars around the edge; the reverse carries the legend SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA, FIFTY DOLLS around an eagle with outstretched wings holding a U.S. shield and a ribbon, above it a second ribbon reads 1309 GRS .887 THOUS (Breen, Encyclopedia, 7921), the obverse with some hairlines and couple of small bumps, which look a lot like bagmarks, in front of the face, a mint-made planchet flaw faintly visible on Liberty's face, otherwise a choice Proof with a very pleasing overall appearance; the reverse even better with the eagle showing a degree of cameo contrast with the fields, the edges clear and sharp; this coin is number six on Walter Breen's list of the eleven known specimens and is known as the Beck specimen after its first recorded owner, it is very much better than the specimen offered by Christie's in March 1990; one of the great rarities of the California series and one of the most spectacular items in U.S. numismatics
细节
Kellogg and Co., San Francisco, Gold Fifty-Dollars, 1855, the obverse with a head of Liberty facing left, KELLOGG & CO on the crest of her diadem, the signature of the engraver F(erdinand) GRUNER in small letters at the truncation of the bust, thirteen stars around the edge; the reverse carries the legend SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA, FIFTY DOLLS around an eagle with outstretched wings holding a U.S. shield and a ribbon, above it a second ribbon reads 1309 GRS .887 THOUS (Breen, Encyclopedia, 7921), the obverse with some hairlines and couple of small bumps, which look a lot like bagmarks, in front of the face, a mint-made planchet flaw faintly visible on Liberty's face, otherwise a choice Proof with a very pleasing overall appearance; the reverse even better with the eagle showing a degree of cameo contrast with the fields, the edges clear and sharp; this coin is number six on Walter Breen's list of the eleven known specimens and is known as the Beck specimen after its first recorded owner, it is very much better than the specimen offered by Christie's in March 1990; one of the great rarities of the California series and one of the most spectacular items in U.S. numismatics
更多详情
Private gold mints operated in the San Francisco area from 1849 onwards in response to the inadequate supply of coins from the East. By 1853, the Federal government had still failed to resolve the situation. In December of that year, John Kellogg and G.F. Richter were able to open Kellogg and Co., their minting operation at 104-6 Montgomery St., and quickly established a thriving business producing Twenty-Dollar pieces. Demand was sufficient to sustain large scale production throughout 1854 and well into 1855 despite the belated opening of the Federal branch mint at San Francisco in April 1854. In fact it seems that in 1855 Kellogg and Richter were seriously contemplating the prodution of Fifty-Dollar coins in order to compete with the successful product of their competitors Wass, Molitor and Company. Ferdinand Gruner was commissioned to create the dies and a handful of trial or presentation pieces of Proof quality were struck, one of which we offer here, but regular production never began.