954

[L#0954] 1855 Wass, Molitor $50 Net EF45 smoothed

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:18,000.00 USD Estimated At:30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
[L#0954] 1855 Wass, Molitor $50 Net EF45 smoothed
Lightly smoothed and cleaned surface, but lustrous and featuring an outstanding appearance when one compares it to other survivors. These tend to be very hacked up and injured around the rims because they are made of a soft gold alloy and weigh two and one-half ounces. That this well struck specimen escaped the usual heavy handling (other than the aforementioned smoothing of the surface) points to a valuation at or above a more typical EF45 specimen.

Unlike the $20 Wass, Molitors, the $50 denomination has a plain coronet. Issued in quantity beginning in May 1855, possibly fewer than 75 exist today after heavy melting. Breen confirms in his encyclopedia of United States coins what we have already described about the issue "usually heavily dented, nicked, and scratched". A prime candidate for a collection of California "Territorial" or private gold issues (even though by this time California had become a state of the Union and so no longer had Territorial status).