BG- 881, 1876 California Fractional Gold 25C, Indian Round NGC MS67 PL - TOP POP

Here’s a dramatic offering from AUCM in the popular California Fractional Gold series. This variety was struck in the American Centennial year of 1876 by Christopher Ferdinand Mohrig, a San Francisco jeweler. NGC has graded this piece MS67 Proof Like, with none finer. Collectors Universe gives this variety a price of $4,200.00 in MS66+, as there is no price given for MS67 or MS67PL by CU.

In total, NGC has graded 20 examples of the BG-881 variety. This gold 25 cent Indian Head round is a Rarity-5. This Period Two (1859-1882) variety is the Redbook Large Indian Head Type. The obverse offers an attractive, well-crafted Indian Head that suggests the popular Indian Head cent of its day. Thirteen stars surround the Indian Head and the date 1876 is found below. A line connects the 10^th star to the 6^th feather of the headdress, which is the same as BG-880. Within an intricate wreath is 1/4 DOLLAR. Sources: EML 81; Burnie 115; Lee 51C; Doering 110B.

A bird’s-eye view of San Francisco in 1876, the year this coin was struck by Christopher Ferdinand Mohrig. Image: Library of Congress.

It was 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 varieties such as this offering.

Don Kagin, the author of Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States (1981), explains how coins such as these 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.