5768

1851 $50 LE Humbert Fifty Dollar, 887 Thous. 50 Rev. X

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1851 $50 LE Humbert Fifty Dollar, 887 Thous. 50 Rev. X
<B>1851<$50 LE> Humbert Fifty Dollar, 887 Thous. 50 Rev. XF45 PCGS.</B></I> K-4, R.5+. Gold was discovered in California by James Marshall in 1848, and less than a year later the California Gold Rush was under way. Smaller gold discoveries had taken place in previous years, especially in the Carolinas and Georgia two decades earlier, but none had received the notoriety of the California discovery. Along with the Gold Rush came abuses by bankers and dealers in the precious metal who were cheating the miners, other merchants, and the general public. Almost from the beginning, the public desired an official agency to counter the abuses that were played on them. Although local legislation was passed to form a State Assay Office, the only real solution was to establish a branch of the U.S. Mint in California. The idea of a new Mint was initially voted down by Congress, who instead, voted to establish a federal Assay Office in San Francisco.<BR> The United States Assay Office of Gold was authorized to produce ingots and bars ranging in size from $50 to $10,000, of refined and uniform gold. Both ingots and bars were anticipated, the ingots being octagonal. The present piece is an example of one of these ingots, which became known as slugs. Donald Kagin quoted a newspaper article from the February 14, 1851 issue of <I>Prices Current:</B></I> "The larger ones of one and two hundred dollars are exactly similar to the $50 denominations except they are proportionately thicker. The reverse side bears an impression of rayed work, without any inscription. Upon the edge is the following: 'Augustus Humbert, U.S. Assayer--California Gold 1851.' Those of Five Hundred and One Thousand Dollars are in the form of parallelograms, about five inches in length, and one and three quarters in breadth and varying in thickness, the small being about three-tenths of an inch, and larger six tenths."<BR> The d