Private Gold Coinage of California, 1849-55, Its History and Its Issues

; " .':••• .- "v. - ::: U •*..• • V PRIVATE GOLD COINAGE ' • ’ ' ' * • l : ' ' - • .. ; V . V; ' • • . •. 0F . CALIFORNIA, - 1849-5 5 , ITS HISTORY AND ITS ISSUES. EDGAR H. ADAMS PRIVATE GOLD COINAGE OF CALIFORNIA, - 1849 55 , ITS HISTORY AND ITS ISSUES. BY EDGAR H. ADAMS. EDGAR H. ADAMS. 44 7A STATE STREET. BROOKLYN, N. Y. 1913. Grateful acknowledgement is extended to the American Numismatic Society for granting permission to reprint this volume, and for loaning to the publisher Edgar H. Adams own copy of the original book which was copied for this reprint edition. REPRINTED FROM THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NUMISMATICS. 1912. Copyright, 1912, Edgar H. Adams. — PREFACE More often than not, when the subject of “pioneer gold’’ occurs in coin collecting circles, it is spoken of somewhat vaguely. It is indeed a topic with which only the advanced numismatist tends to have more than a cursory acquaintance—and largely so because information about these curious coins has been nearly as scarce as the coins them- selves. Primary sources of information—the private letters of territorial minters and their employees, correspondence among governmental officials, and “public” documents all are but unavailable to the collector ; and, without the efforts of a skilled numismatic researcher, in their archival itate these scattered materials would probably discourage all but the most zealous private collector anyway. Secondary sources of information, among the best of which is the volume presented here, when they were of any real value in the first place, have generally been long out of print and their information available only to the advanced collector who sought out rare—and usually expensive—early editions. In reprinting Edgar H. Adams’ 1913 classic book, Private Gold Coinage of Cali- fornia, 1849-55, the present publisher offers a key source of enlightenment to the collector and numismatist alike. The volume is thorough but not scholarly, detailed but delightfully lively, and an orderly appraisal of the coinage which is largely free from the dull cataloguing that characterizes most numismatic studies. For this is not merely a coin book; it is a work of social history as well. You will come away from reading it with increased knowledge both of privately minted gold coins and of one of America’s most adventurous and formative eras. And you will discover much about the economic, social, and other human conditions of the place where westward expansion saw its most vigorous fulfillment—the San Francisco of the 1850s, where much of the civilization of the American East transplanted itself in the course of less than a decade. From its story, skillfully reconstructed by Edgar H. Adams, who searched western libraries for firsthand information, comes a lasting understanding of why federal coinage took the forms it did in the far West in the years following the disappearance from circulation of the numerous issues of privately minted coins made from local gold. This book is, in short, one of the proverbial wells of information into which every true numismatist must at some time during his career dip his cup. The collector of United States coins can benefit immensely from the experience of reading it. The edition offered to you here is an exact replica—a facsimile copy—of the first edition. It is handsomely and sturdily bound so that it may become a durable part of your reference book collection. Every effort has been made to bring its price within the limits of any collector’s budget. May you glean much insight and immeasurable de- light from studying its pages! BRUCE LORICH General Editor Stack pole Numismatic Books INTRODUCTION TO THE REPRINTED EDITION Edgar H. Adams was certainly one of the most brilliant researchers numismatics has ever known. Although his interests in the field of rare coins continued until his death in 1940, his most outstanding efforts date from the decade immediately preceding the First World War. His book United States Pattern, Trial, and Experimental Pieces, written together with William H. Woodin (later to become Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin Delano Roosevelt), was published— in 1913 by the American Numismatic Society. Telling the story of pattern coins “what might have been,” but wasn’t, in U. S. coinage—this book has endured through the decades. All references to pattern coins written since that time invariably have drawn upon Edgar H. Adams’ original research. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century Edgar H. Adams began in earnest to study the field of territorial and “pioneer” gold coins. In 1909 his Official Premium List of United States Private and Territorial Gold Coins was published. Shortly there- after, his detailed research into the background and history of these pieces began to appear in serial form in the American Journal of Numismatics, official journal of the American Numismatic Society. At the conclusion of this series some revisions were made, and the entire effort was privately published in book form in 1913 as Private Gold Coinage of California, 1849-55, the volume now reprinted here. At the same time Edgar H. Adams somehow was able to contribute a regular monthly column, “Current American Numismatic Notes,” to The Numismatist, journal of the American Numismatic Association—an organization which in the intervening years has grown to become the largest nonprofit coin collectors’ organization in the world. Edgar Adams seems to have had an eye for both the significant and the interesting. This combination, when processed through Mr. Adams’ mind and put on paper, pro- duced writings that were and still are fascinating to read. The book now in your hands combines material gleaned from standard references such as the newspaper Alta California and the seemingly endless writings of Hubert Howe Bancroft with facts taken from other sources of information which only Edgar H. Adams’ persistence could seek out. The sands of time cover many tracks, and it is safe to say that had it not been for Mr. Adams’ efforts earlier in this century much of the body of knowledge known to numismatists on the subject today would have to be based on conjecture rather than fact. Private Cold Coinage of California, 1840-55 has well stood the test of time and use. No other definitive reference on the series has ever been published. While additional information concerning certain coins and coiners has come to light, the Adams book remains as the central informational source for numismatists and scholars. In my own research on the subject of gold and gold coins I have built a sizable library. Stirred by the romance of the Gold Rush, countless authors have hastened into print with “histories” of the era. Perhaps ninety percent of these are composed of veneer but lack a foundation. “Read one and you have read them all”—so the saying goes. Xot so with Adams’ book. It duplicates no book before it and, as noted, no book has fol- lowed in its steps since 1913. Money pervades all strata of mankind. Indeed, wealth and money provided the motivation for the Gold Rush itself. Adams’ book, being the standard reference on the subject, is thus a key source for anyone interested in the monetary and economic aspects of America’s Golden Age. In a broader sense it contributes social and political information as well. Numismatists will certainly want this book, for it has been long out of print. His- torians, libraries, and others interested in facts, not fiction, about the Gold Rush will find it equally valuable—because within the covers of this book can be found information available from no other single source. O. DAVID BOWERS CONTENTS. Introduction I. The State Assay Office of California II. The Moffat & Co. Issues, San Francisco, 1849-53: Moffat Ingots and Pieces — Dealings with the United States Government — The United States Assay Office — Augustus Humbert and the United States Ingots — Curtis, Perry & Ward III. Various Californian Private Mints, 1849-55: The Pacific Company, 1849 — Cincinnati Mining and Trading Company, 1849 — J. S. Ormsby & Co. (Sacramento), 1849 — Norris, Gregg & Norris, 1849 — Templeton Reid, 1849 — Massachusetts and California Company, 1849 — Miners’ Bank, 1849-50 — Dubosq & Co., 1850 — Baldwin & Co., 1850-51 — Shultz & Co., 1851 — Dunbar & Co., 1851 — Wass, Molitor & Co., 1852-55 — Kellogg & Co., 1854-55 — Additional Notes — Sketches of John L. Moffat and George F. A. Kiiner IV. Pattern and Experimental Pieces of California : Theodore Dubosq — Massachusetts and California Company — Miners’ Bank — Pacific Company — Columbus Company — Moran & Clark — Cincinnati Mining and Trading Company — “San Francisco Standard Mint” — Meyers & Co. — J. S. Ormsby & Co. — J. H. Bowie — Pelican Company — “California Gold Mines” — “San Francisco, State of California” — Augustus Humbert (1851-53) — Moffat & Co. — Wass, Molitor & Co. (1855) — Kellogg & Co. — Blake & Co., Sacramento (1856) — Baldwin & Co. (1850-51) — H. Schaeffer — The “Model” Series — Markers or Counters ............... ; PRIVATE GOLD COINAGE INTRODUCTION. The private gold coins struck in California from 1849 t0 1855 inclusive, which passed as money, form one of the most interesting series of pieces that have ever been in issued this country ; for they were intimately connected with a time which, with the exception of the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, and of 1861, was one of the most sensational in our national history. The discovery of gold in California and the develop- ment of its mines during one of the most stringent financial periods through which this country has ever passed abruptly ended what has since become proverbial as the “ Hard Times.” The enormous product of the precious metal thus thrown upon the markets of the world, immediately placed our country on that solid and prosperous basis which it has ever since maintained, for the achievement of this result was unquestionably due to the yield from the California mines more than to any other single agency.

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