BG- 205, 1853 California Gold Rush Circulating Fractional Gold 25C, Liberty Round PCGS MS63 R6

It is not possible to determine how many of this variety Joseph Brothers minted in San Francisco. But we do know that they are great rarities. Only 19 of these small treasures have been graded by PGGS. There are 2 in MS63, with a mere 1 finer (as of 6/2021). Robert H. Lande, specialist of California Fractional coinage, writes, "They are not the prettiest and most distinctively designed U.S. coins ever struck. But the heady days of the Gold Rush were not the times for carefully chosen aesthetics. Their designs are testimony to their times and to the tasks they were called upon to perform." Wouldn't you really love to have a relic from that time? Something to give you the feeling that you were there? This would be the perfect piece of Gold Rush history to add to your collection.

California Gold Rush Circulating Fractional Gold 25C, Liberty Round, struck by Joseph Brothers, San Francisco circa 1853. Obverse features the same devise as BG-203 and 204 (Coronet Liberty head) with 12 stars. Fifth star touches top of coronet and 12th star is in base of the truncation. The Reverse has *1-4 DOLLAR* within wreath. There are 14 berries upon wreath, 8 on left and 6 on right. ' The obverse design is meant to imitate the national coin issues of the early 1850s. This specimen is an evocative piece of American history. The Joseph Brothers emerged in numismatic history as pioneers of California Fractional Gold. Fractional Gold specialist Dr. Robert Chandler tells us, "The pioneers of 50 and 25-cent Fractionals, Lionel B. [and Nathan] and Josephus B. Joseph, came from an eighteenth-century family of noted Liverpool silversmith, and had practiced that trade there until smitten by Gold Fever. Showing their versatility, in 1850 San Francisco they opened Joseph Brothers, jewelers, importers of watches and diamonds, opticians, and chronometer makers." Don Kagin, the author of Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States (1981), explains how these coins were minted: 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.