1914 Hart's Coins of the Golden West series NGC MS-62 Montana Gold $1

The 1914 Montana gold $1 is a small private souvenir gold token (not an official U.S. Mint coin) from the M.E. Hart “Coins of the Golden West” series, one of three Montana pieces (in sizes corresponding to 25¢, 50¢, and $1) within the complete 36-piece set of Western gold-rush commemoratives. Marketed by the M.E. Hart Co. of San Francisco primarily as souvenirs around the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (with sales continuing into 1916), the series is closely linked to Farran Zerbe, who used the Hart name—possibly inspired by Alaska promoter Mary E. Hart—to distance the venture from his own reputation. The full set includes Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington varieties that imitate classic California fractional gold; original framed sets are rare and have sold for tens of thousands of dollars, while individual tokens are more commonly available.

The Montana $1 features an Indian head in headdress facing left with “MONTANA GOLD” on the obverse and a mountain/river/rising-sun scene with Montana’s motto “ORO Y PLATA” on the reverse. Measuring about 12.6 mm in diameter and weighing roughly 0.76 g, it is struck in approximately 10-karat gold (or finer). These scarce tokens appeal to collectors of Western fractional gold, exposition material, and private/territorial issues; high-grade examples (such as NGC MS-63) have sold around $1,000 or more in recent auctions, with value driven more by historical and numismatic interest than by intrinsic gold content.