1848 $2.50 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle, with CAL. NGC AU58

--One of the 100 Greatest U.S. Coins--

The 1848 $2.50 Liberty with the reverse CAL. stamp is a very significant issue often referred to as a one-year Type coin, not to mention the fact that it is the first commemorative coin struck in the United States to memorialize the historic events of the California Gold Rush. This particular coin, as were all surviving examples, was produced from the first shipment of gold bullion to arrive at the Philadelphia Mint from the gold fields. The shipment provided 230 ounces of the precious metal, a major portion of which was transformed into 1,389 regular-issue quarter eagles, each coin bearing the inscription "CAL." above the eagle's head on the reverse. Curiously, coins made from California gold by the Philadelphia mint can not be identified since they were melted and assayed, then placed into the economy at a frenetic rate. Aside from the gold recovered from shipwrecks with a distinct timeline, these 1848 $2.50 Liberty with CAL. coins are the only regular issue coins to be positively identified as being made out of California gold.

Numismatists, historians and scholars are enlightened by surviving documentary evidence leading up to the production of these coins. Secretary of War William Learned Marcy penned a letter regarding the first shipment of gold from California to Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson on December 8, 1848:

"If the metal is found to be pure gold, as I doubt not that it will be, I request you to reserve enough of it for two medals ordered by Congress and not yet completed, and the remainder, with the exception of one or two small bars, I wish to have coined and sent with the bars to this department. As many may wish to procure specimens made with California gold, by exchanging other coin for it, I would suggest that it be made into quarter eagles with a distinguishing mark on each, if any variations from the ordinary issues from the Mint would be proper and could be conveniently made ..."

Auction catalogs dating back as far as 1851 have described this issue as a “Proof” while modern day numismatists claim the coin to be “Prooflike” struck on freshly polished business strike dies. In most all catalog descriptions, the term excessively rare is used nearly all the time! Regardless of their status as proof or business-strike issues, however, the coins are among the most attractive examples of U.S. coinage ever issued, and collectors of many disciplines pursue this issue with avid determination. Experts have further estimated that fewer than 75 examples of this rare issue survive today in all grades, maintaining the demand on such a remarkable coin.

Of the few remaining examples, we note several have realized well-over $300,000 at public auction and at one point, an superlative example even realized $400,000+.