1927 New Monte Cristo Sterling Slug NGC MS-62 by C.C. Julian

The Medal — Physical Description & Classification

The obverse bears the legend "C.C. JULIAN" and the reverse "NEW MONTE CRISTO 1927." The obverse design features a rampant bear standing on his hind legs within a beaded border with five stars above; the reverse depicts a crossed shovel and pickaxe with ribbons and beaded border. The piece is octagonal sterling silver, 41mm flat-to-flat and 44mm point-to-point, edge-stamped STERLING and ALLEN.

So-Called Dollar Status

This is a nuanced question. The piece is 42mm and not included in the standard So-Called Dollar reference or any other major catalog, though its size and composition would place it squarely within the so-called dollar canon. The Jankovsky reference to $50 slug facsimiles catalogs it as J-927, and there is an active debate among SCD specialists as to whether it should be formally canonized. Consensus among advanced collectors leans toward yes — it hits all the right criteria — but it currently occupies the interesting gray zone of an unlisted SCD with full de facto status in the marketplace. Heritage has offered it specifically as a "So-Called Dollar" in their catalog, and NGC has slabbed examples as such.

Rarity

Only seven pieces are believed known today. The graded population at NGC/PCGS is extremely thin — one MS-63, MS-62 (the present specimen) one AU-50, one XF-40, and one details-grade example account for only four certified coins total. High-grade silver survivors are genuinely rare.

The "Sordid History" — C.C. Julian

This is where it gets remarkable. Julian Petroleum Corporation, nicknamed "Julian Pete," was a Los Angeles-based oil company that collapsed in 1927 amid large-scale fraud, taking over $150 million from 40,000 investors.

Courtney Chauncey Julian, a native Canadian, arrived in California in 1922 claiming experience in property speculation and the oil business. He secured a lease in Santa Fe Springs and advertised for investors in the Los Angeles Times. In 56 days, he sold $5 million worth of stock in "Julian Pete."

His advertising was the stuff of legend — simultaneously brazen and folksy. The company courted investors with lines like: "Widows and Orphans, This Is No Investment for You! My appeal is addressed to people who can legitimately afford to take a chance."

When regulators closed in on Julian Pete, Julian pivoted to mining. To fend off the California State Corporation Commission, Julian purchased existing mines including the New Monte Cristo, near Wickenburg, Arizona — but its operations were soon shut down by the same regulators. The 1927 medals, then, were essentially propaganda pieces — investor keepsakes issued at precisely the moment his house of cards was collapsing. These slugs were produced to promote investor confidence, functioning as bold advertising tokens during a time of speculative mania.

The Julian Pete scandal ultimately contributed to the collapse of the First National Bank, the election of a former Ku Klux Klansman as mayor of Los Angeles, and the defeat of the sitting governor in his re-election bid. The District Attorney Julian had cultivated — Asa Keyes — took tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to ensure the prosecution lost when the architects of the Julian Petroleum swindle were tried in 1928.

As for Julian himself, his end was operatic. He fled to Shanghai in 1933 on a false passport, posing as an Irishman named T.R. King. Ensconced at the Astor Hotel, he told the American press "You can tell the United States to go to Hell — they can't touch me." He attempted further schemes, ran out of money, and ultimately returned to the Astor for a final lavish dinner. He then went to his hotel room, leaving his girlfriend and empty champagne glasses behind, and swallowed poison.

The brawl with Charlie Chaplin mentioned in SCD forum discussions is also confirmed — Julian got into a bar fight with Chaplin during this period, one of several colorful footnotes to a life that Jules Tygiel's 1994 book The Great Los Angeles Swindle called the story that best captures the essence of the 1920s in America — its booster optimism, rampant speculation, entrepreneurial mania, overlap of business and politics, and cast of oilmen, stock promoters, Hollywood stars, banking executives, Prohibition-era gangsters, and evangelists.

Bottom Line for the Collector

The 1927 New Monte Cristo sterling slug (J-927) is a seven-known rarity sitting in SCD limbo — fully deserving of the designation, not yet formally canonized in the H&K reference, and one of the most narratively loaded pieces in the entire Western exonumia canon. The bear motif, the fraud context, and the literally poisonous denouement of its issuer make it about as compelling a backstory as the hobby offers.