BG- 216, 1854 California Gold Rush Circulating Fractional Gold 25C, Liberty Round PCGS MS63 Ex. SS Central America

The ONE and ONLY example of this variety recovered from the shipwreck of the S.S. Central America-! PCGS pop of 1 for this PCGS number 675625. 

Includes a pinch of gold dust retrieved from the SS Central America. That this piece was found among the wreckage of that doomed ship offers evidence that Fractional Gold coins indeed were a circulating form of coinage during the California Gold rush and beyond. PCGS has graded 7 as MS63, with only 2 finer.

Photo of gold coins amid the wreckage of the SS Central America upon the ocean's floor. Photo courtesy of PCGS Coinfacts website.

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 writes that these Period 1 coins (1852-1856) are "plain, sparse, minimalist, unadorned, and basic." There was a serious effort on the part of the jewelers to mimic the federal government's then current $1 gold coin. To that end, over 99 percent of the Period 1 California Fractional Gold coins feature the iconic Liberty head motif. Lande writes, "...the resemblance between the period's gold U.S. $1.00 pieces and many of the California gold...pieces is uncanny..." These diminutive gold coins fit the bill of meeting the shortage of small change. Aesthetics are not a concern when producing emergency coinage. Why did such coins carry similar designs? Lande writes, "Once some had been accepted as money, it would have been advantageous for minters to strike pieces that were similar to the previously issued and accepted pieces."