|
SAN FRANCISCO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA
PIONEER GOLD COINS
These 1851 patterns for a proposed coinage are among the most artistic of all private coinage. They were apparently made for speculation in San Francisco by a company from Birmingham, England, as an eagle hub bearing this name is mentioned by Don Taxay as possessing an English pedigree. Denominations of $2½, $5, $10, and $20 are known in silver, copper, and white metal. The master hub is presently in the Bank of California museum.
--Reprinted with permission of the author
from Donald H. Kagin's, "Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the
United States", copyright 1981, Arco Publishing, Inc. of New
York |