BG- 507, 1854 California Gold Rush Circulating Fractional Gold $1, Liberty Octagonal PCGS AU55 R6+

Octagonal issue struck by Frontier, Dieviercy & Co. of San Francisco. Obverse presents the coroneted Liberty head that is derivative of the Federal issue of its era, surrounded by 10 stars. The reverse has 1 DOLLAR 1854 (the date is lightly struck with the 5 very faintly struck) within a beaded circle, surrounded by CALIFORNIA GOLD with the FD mintmark at the bottom for Frontier, Dieviercy. There have been only 13 of this issue graded by PCGS. There are 2 in AU55, with 6 finer. Same obverse as BG-506. Reverse stars are larger than those upon BG-506. EML 42 (reported); Lee 6D; D 411.

Three men and one woman panning for gold during the California Gold Rush. Gold Rush gold was used to produce California Fractional Gold coins. Photo: Wikipedia.

The Joseph Brothers emerged in numismatic history as pioneers of California Fractional Gold. Their Fractional Gold coin business was taken over by Frontier, Devierey & Co. What they and the other jewelers in San Francisco created was in essence "emergency coinage." 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.