BG- 302, 1853 California Gold Rush Circulating Fractional Gold 50C, Liberty Octagonal, "Peacock" Reverse PCGS MS63 R4-

We at AUCM are delighted to offer for consideration a dramatic 1853 Fractional Gold 50c, BG-302, Liberty Octagon, "Peacock" reverse, graded PCGS MS63. Robert H. Lande, specialist on California Fractional Gold, writes that these Period 1 coins (1852-1856) are "plain, sparse, minimalist, unadorned, and basic." Don Kagin, the author of Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States (1981), explains how these coins were produced:

Most of the fractional coins were made by the hammer method.... This was a process of striking where the bottom die was placed on a block, a coin blank was laid upon it, and the top die upon the blank; this top die was then struck by a sledgehammer. Blows of varying intensity would cause potions of one side or edge to be more weakly struck than another.

It is a misnomer to call this issue's reverse image a "peacock." It was originally given that moniker by numismatist and auctioneer Art Kagin--and it stuck. This motif could be a creative derivative of the 1853 "Eagle with Rays" reverse of the quarter and half dollar. However, the bird on the coin has a crest, which American eagles do not have. Therefore it could be a crested caracara, which was probably a common sight in 1850s San Francisco. The caracara's body is similar to the one found on the coin. The mythological phoenix metaphor is of course a possibility, since San Francisco was destroyed by fire seven times between 1849-1851, but the bird on the coin more closely resembles an eagle or caracara. However, the die sinker may indeed have been striving to create a phoenix--employing an eagle or caracara as a metaphorical phoenix. The San Francisco government adopted the phoenix as its city seal, but that was not officially until after the 1906 earthquake.