BG- 216, 1854 California Gold Rush Circulating Fractional Gold 25C, Liberty Round NGC MS63 R6

Rarity-6. Gold 25C Liberty Head Round. Period One - circulating issues between 1852 and 1856. Redbook Type: Large Liberty Head / Value & Date in Wreath. Made by Frontier-Deviercy.

This is a rare issue. There have only been 9 examples of the BG-216 graded by NGC. Of those, just one carries the grade of MS63, with just 3 finer (all of those are MS64).

Gold miners during the California Gold Rush. This offering from AUCM was produced with gold from the Gold Rush. Photo: Wikipedia.

Frontier, Devierey & Co. purchased the jewelry firm of the Joseph Brothers, who are considered pioneers of the creation and production of California Fractional Gold coinage. In essence, what Frontier, Devierey & Co. and other San Francisco jewelers created was “emergency coinage.” Fractional Gold researcher Robert H. Lande tells us that such Period 1 coins (1852-1856) are “plain, sparce, minimalist, unadorned, and basic.” The ubiquitous Liberty head design found on over 99 percent of California Fractional Gold was the result of a serious effort on the part of jewelers to imitate the design on the federal government’s then current $1 gold coin.