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

2168

1855 $50 Wass Molitor Fifty Dollar--Damaged,

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:15,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1855 $50 Wass Molitor Fifty Dollar--Damaged,
<B>1855 $50 Wass Molitor Fifty Dollar--Damaged, Tooled--NCS. XF Details.</B></I> K-9, R.5. When S.C. Wass and A.P. Molitor set up business as assayers and coiners in San Francisco in 1852, they were one of the later firms to establish themselves as such. By the time they began their operation, other companies had been discredited by Eckfeldt and DuBois and only the most reputable coining firms remained. The Wass, Molitor gold coins had the highest intrinsic value of all the private coiners with an average of $5.04 in a five dollar gold piece. This reputation spilled over into the local <I>San Francisco Herald</B></I>, in a report that was so favorable it borders on an advertisement:<BR><BR> "Messrs. Wass, Molitor & Co. have removed their establishment into Naglee's fireproof building, in Merchant St., where they are now busily engaged in smelting ores of all kinds, melting down and assaying gold for the largest houses in the city, and attending generally to all business connected with mining, for which their scientific attainments and long experience eminently fit them. They have now an excellent laboratory, fitted up in the most approved style, with powerful furnaces and every species of apparatus required for the most delicate and accurate analysis."<BR><BR> The surfaces of this coin show the extensive use of these heavy pieces as a circulating medium. Softly struck, as usual, the surfaces show numerous small abrasions that are common to Wass fifties. The damage listed on the NCS insert is primarily from a long, vertical scratch on the upper reverse. The center of the reverse also shows evidence of crude tooling. The surfaces otherwise are bright and green-gold in color.<BR> <BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
Sign In to Bookmark Lot