(MORMON COINS) | The Mormon Coins. [Philadelphia, 1850]

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

(MORMON COINS)

The Mormon Coins. [Philadelphia, 1850]

Handbill (6 3/4 x 4 1/8 in.; 172 x 106 mm) on wove paper, woodcut vignettes of obverse and reverse of a Mormon $20 gold piece at head, dated January 10; lightly stained. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot.

A very scarce relic of Mormonism and numismatic Americana, this handbill was evidently printed as a last-moment supplement to J. R. Eckfeldt and W. E. Du Bois's New Varieties of Gold and Silver Coins, Counterfeit Coins and Bullion (Philadelphia, 1850) but actually included in very few copies. Eckfeldt and Du Bois were assayers for the Mint, and their guide was prepared primarily for the use of Californians following the 1849 gold rush.

Of the Mormon coins, the assayers write, "They consist of 20, 10, 5, and 2 1/2 dollar pieces. In fineness they about 899 thous., with little variation; and they contain only the native silver alloy. The weights are more irregular, and the values very deficient. The 20 dollar piece weighs from 436 to 453 grains, value $16 90 to $17 53. … On one side of the coins in Holiness to the Lord, with a large eye, and something like a mitre; on the other, two hands in friendly grasp, with the date 1849, and a legend containing the alleged value, and the initials G.S.L.C.P.G., meaning Great Salt Lake City, Pure Gold."

The Mormon gold coins never achieved any general usage (California gold dust was likely the favored means of exchange between Mormon and outside communities), and most examples were eventually sold to the U.S. mint as bullion.

REFERENCE:

cf. Stanley, "The First Utah Coins Minted from California Gold," in California Historical Society Quarterly, 15 (1936): 244-246