1849 $5 Mormon Gold Half Eagle, NGC XF Details

We are indeed delighted at AUCM to offer for consideration an early private gold specimen from the heady days of the California Gold Rush, an 1849 $5 Mormon Gold piece, graded NGC XF Details. Such coins are greatly desired by Territorial Gold specialists. This example would be an excellent addition to a collection of circulated Territorial Gold from the romantic days of the Wild West.

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.

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 a miter cap, which is worn by a high priest in the Mormon religion. Under the cap is a large eye, which Mormons call the "All-Searching Eye of the Great Jehovah."