5757

1860 $20 Clark, Gruber $20 Copper Die Gilt Trial--Clea

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:120.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1860 $20 Clark, Gruber $20 Copper Die Gilt Trial--Clea
<B>1860<$20> Clark, Gruber $20 Copper Die Gilt Trial--Cleaned--ANACS. AU Details, Net XF40.</B></I> K-4a, R.5. Struck as a pattern for the 1860 Pike's Peak twenty dollar piece, the dramatic obverse was engraved back East by someone who had never seen Pike's Peak and presented it as a triangle with flame-like formations. The final design was struck after Pike's Peak had been given a more "mountain-like" appearance. It is estimated that only 250 of the revised-design twenty dollar coins were struck in 1860; a Liberty head replaced the mountain in 1861. This orange-gold gilt piece is sharply defined throughout and its surfaces seem minimally affected, despite light cleaning. There are no objectionable marks on either side. Gilt specimens are rare and highly sought, because they show the coin as it would have appeared when struck. A collector with the actual coin and the die trial has both the "before" and "after" of one of territorial gold's greatest stories. In all, a dramatic and beautiful die trial for a Colorado private coin that was never minted.<BR><I>Ex: Anaconda Rare Coins, recent private treaty sale.</B></I>