1849 $5 Mormon Gold Half Eagle PCGS XF40

Rare territorial gold in a classic PCGS rattler holder!

Here is a very rare piece from the first days of the gold rush. Mormon gold pieces are among the most coveted by territorial gold specialists, and now you have an opportunity to acquire this dramatic specimen! PCGS has graded 27 as XF40 with 71 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $37,500.00 in XF40.

Some of the earliest private gold coinage was struck not in California, but in Salt Lake City, Utah. That was the result of the Mormon Battalion returning from the Mexican War to Utah. They brought back with them significant amounts of gold dust they obtained on their journey through gold-rich California. That gold was employed as a medium of exchange in the isolated Deseret community. Brigham Young established the Deseret mint in Salt Lake City, where he had blacksmith John Kay forge dies to mint gold coins.

All of the gold in Mormon gold coins came from California. Gold miners in California during the Gold Rush. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The obverse has the year 1849, FIVE DOLLARS and "G.S.L.C.P.G." which stands for "Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold." However, all of the gold in Mormon coins came from California. It is also not pure, for they were alloyed with silver. An assay performed at the U.S. Mint in 1850 found the Mormon coins to be both underweight and debased. There are also clasped hands on the obverse, which symbolizes "the right hand of fellowship" from the New Testament (Galatians 2:9). The reverse says "TO. THE. LORD. HOLINESS." There is also some kind of hat or cap. Under the cap is a large eye, which Mormons call the "All-Searching Eye of the Great Jehovah."