BG-1119, 1872 California Fractional Gold $1, Indian Octagonal PCGS MS64 R5+

Here's an opportunity to acquire an example of this dramatic Fractional Gold variety. Created and produced by San Francisco jeweler Christopher Ferdinand Mohrig, who crafted Fractional Gold Coinage from 1858-1882, there are very few of the BG-1119 variety available to numismatists. PCGS has graded 29 specimens of this variety, with 8 awarded the grade of MS64, with none finer. Collectors Universe priced at $3,500.

All of Mohrig's coins carry the Indian head design on the obverse. Above is Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota chief, in a photo taken in 1885. Photo: wikimedia.org.

It was four years after producing this specimen, on August 10, 1876, that Mohrig was arrested by the Secret Service for violating the 1864 law against private coinage. His stock and dies were seized and melted, which may explain the rarity of his earlier varieties. All of his issues carry his signature design, an attractive Indian Head design that graces the obverse. It is inspired by and derivative of the ubiquitous Indian Head cent.