LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 (ANA) Signature Coin Auction #444  / 

3533

1851 $50 RE Humbert Fifty Dollar, 887

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:12,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1851 $50 RE Humbert Fifty Dollar, 887
<B>1851 $50 RE Humbert Fifty Dollar, 887 Thous.--Damaged--NCS. Fine 12 Details.</B></I> K-6, R.4. This example, and others like it in lower circulated grades, is good evidence that, even by spring 1852 when smaller-denomination gold tens and twenties began circulating in Gold Rush California, many of the larger fifty dollars ingots or "slugs" continued in circulation for a period of years afterward. Not all of them were exported, to be melted into gold bars or ingots of standard fineness, nor were they all turned in to the nascent San Francisco Mint when that facility officially began gold coinage in 1854, to be recoined into federal .900 fine gold. From their rarity today it certainly appears that the vast majority were later melted. But it is difficult to believe that a piece like this could circulate sufficiently to reach Fine condition, if in active circulation, in a shorter time than perhaps eight to 10 years. The noted "damage" is simply where the coin was dropped on a couple of its corners, at 7 and 10 o'clock. The surfaces on this historic piece show moderate abrasions, as expected, with all major details complete save for a couple of words on the normally soft peripheral legends. Listed on page 355 of the 2008 <I>Guide Book.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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