1855 $20 California Gold Double Eagle - Kellogg & Co. NGC AU58

Despite having evidence of the slightest amount of rub, the present specimen is head-and-shoulders WAY better than any nof the other AU58 examples we've compared it to. Please look at the scans of this beautiful coin. The typical evidence of swirl and abraisions are not evident, yet we've priced it a just below the CDN "Greysheet" bid. NGC has graded a total of 71 specimens of the rare 1855 $20 Kellogg & Co. Of those, 17 examples have been given the grade of AU58 with 12 finer. Collectors Universe has given this issue a price of $32,500 in AU58.

View of San Francisco in 1846-1847, right before the Gold Rush. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

In December of 1853, the U.S. Assay Office in San Francisco, which had been minting the $50 'slugs,' ceased operations. No private mints were striking coins at that time. The erstwhile Assay Office was being reconstituted into the new San Francisco branch mint. It would be a while before the new branch mint would open its doors and banks and business firms had a desperate need for a steady stream of gold coinage. Due to the dire situation, John G. Kellogg and G.F. Richter, cashier and assayer of Curtis, Perry and Ward, were called upon by California bankers to open their own assaying office and mint. Kellogg opened his firm on December 14, 1853.

It was on February 9, 1854, that Kellogg and Richter began producing Kellogg & Co. $20 gold double eagles. Kellogg said that his mint could strike $20,000 worth of such coins each and every day. The dies for the coins were probably crafted by Albert Kuner. They were derivative of the federal-issued Liberty head $20 gold pieces that were minted for circulation starting in 1850.

The differences between the private issues and the U.S. Mint issues were that the coronet on the obverse read KELLOGG & CO instead of LIBERTY, while the reverse around the rim read SAN FRANCISCO GOLD instead of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The Kellogg & Co. double eagles were also struck in 1855, for the new San Francisco branch mint's operations were erratic. In essence, without the mintage of $20 gold pieces by Kellogg & Co. in 1854-55, the California economy may very well have collapsed. Kellogg himself lived to become one of the State’s most respected citizens.

As a side note, 18 pieces recovered during the second excavation of the shipwreck S.S. Central America.