1853 $20 California Gold Double Eagle - U.S. Assay Office 900 PCGS XF45

Here’s a rare piece from the California Gold Rush struck during the time before the opening of the US branch mint in San Francisco. This dramatic greenish-gold $20 ingot features the iconic Augustus Humbert eagle on the obverse. PCGS has graded 33 as XF45 with 280 finer. Collectors Universe gives this issue a price of $13,500.00 in XF45.

Augustus Humbert’s role was vital to the early stages of the California assaying and coining business. Congress appointed Humbert as US Assayer for the newly established Assay Office in San Francisco. The fall of 1850 saw him escorted to California by John Little Moffat, the man who pioneered gold coinage in California, along with California congressman T. Butler King, who campaigned for an official US Assay Office and US Branch Mint in San Francisco.

Original San Francisco Mint and Subtreasury (1854) image from 2012. Before it became a branch mint, it was the US Assay Office, where this historic piece was struck in 1853. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

It was in 1851 that Moffat’s firm contracted with the U.S. Treasury to produce $50 gold coins under the authority of Humbert. On February 11, 1852, Moffat & Co. was given the permission to produce $10 and $20 gold coins at the Assay Office, which was a de facto government mint before the establishment in 1854 of the official San Francisco Mint. The Moffat business formally became, or at least was closely associated with, the U.S. Assay Office. Contemporary documents give the impression that Moffat & Co. and the U.S. Assay Office were one and the same, although assayer Humbert had specific duties independent of Moffat. Even though the coins produced circulated extensively as money, they were called "ingots" for either legal or bureaucratic purposes.