One of the rarest U.S.$5 gold coins minted in California rose to auction and will sell for millions next month in Baltimore.
1854-S Mint Liberty Head “Half Eagle,” of three known survivors, is heralded as “one of the most celebrated rarities in American coinage”.
The coin comes from the D. Brent Pogue Collection, which will be sold at Stack’s Bowers Galleries on March 20.
The last sales of the Pogue Collection, in 2015-2017, raised already more than $100 million, making it the largest rare coin collection ever assembled.
According to the auction house, “The 1854 San Francisco half eagle commands a reverence that exceeds that of other greats of numismatics.”
It has never been promoted or ballyhooed, nor thrown into the whirlwind center of a drama that smelled so strong of showmanship or marketing; the 1854-S half eagle comes with its own résumé into the pantheon of the greatest rarities of American numismatics: ultimate rarity, decades between offerings, conspicuous gaps in the greatest cabinets ever formed where this issue ought to be found.
The California Gold Rush initiated in 1848 after James W. Marshall found a piece of gold in Coloma at Sutter’s Mill, bringing in a torrent of more than 300,000 gold seekers into the area.
Due to the time-consuming and dangerous nature of transporting large amounts of gold to eastern mints in Philadelphia and New Orleans, the U.S. Government authorized the establishment of the San Francisco Mint by 1854 to serve local gold miners.
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Much of this gold would be turned into bullion bars for deposit in banks far back east, but official gold coins would also be minted for circulation in the California economy.
Records indicate that on May 19, 1854, the second day of the minting of the coin, only 268 examples of the 1854-S Liberty Head Half Eagle coin were struck, an unusually low figure for an official U.S. gold coin.
Out of the coins that existed today, only three remain, and the one that Stack’s Bowers Galleries is representing is, indeed, the best by a mile as it is graded AU-58+ (PCGS). It has fantastic provenance, going through the matchmaking collections of famed numismatists F.C.C. Boyd and Louis Eliasberg.
The second known 1854-S Liberty Head Half Eagle is now found in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution; a third example found and sold at Heritage Auctions in 2018 can now call itself a lucky buyer for $2.16 million.
The fourth known example was stolen from the wealthy DuPont family in what was essentially a violent robbery committed in 1967, and has never been recovered.
Like the present ‘F.C.C. Boyd Specimen,’ it has been around Eliasberg before. It was last sold from the Eliasberg Collection in 1982. Since almost four decades ago, it has belonged to the D. Brent Pogue Collection.
Now, this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ kind of opportunity is going to create a stir among the finest collectors in the world as it shows up on the open market.
It is something that will attract world-class collectors, and experts expect strong seven figures on the bidding scene and a bidding war over this coin when it is sold at auction on March 20 in Baltimore.
FAQS:
Currently, how many 1854-S Half Eagle coins are in existence?
There exist only three known specimens currently, one of which is kept within the Smithsonian Institution, whereas another was solicited to a private collection.
Rarity makes the 1854-S Half Eagle so precious.
What is the price expected for the 1854-S Half Eagle?
Experts opine that this coin will fetch millions because it is not readily available, as has been the case in prior auctions of other rare gold coins.