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Images courtesy of Ron
Guth
Notes:
On January 24, 1848, James Wilson
Marshall noticed some small flakes of yellow metal near the Sutter's Mill
project outside Coloma, California. Marshall's discovery turned out
to be gold, touching off one of the largest voluntary migration of humans
the world has ever known -- the California Gold Rush.
In December 1848, the
Military Governor of California, Col. R.B. Mason, sent 228 ounces of newly
mined gold to the Secretary of War, William L. Marcy. Marcy
forwarded the gold to the Philadelphia Mint, with instructions to use the
gold for Congressional Medals for Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield
Scott. Any leftover gold was to be turned into specially marked
Quarter Eagles. 1,389 1848-dated Quarter Eagles were struck from the
California gold shipment, each one stamped with a small "CAL."
in the upper reverse field. The stamping appears to have been done
while the coins were still in the press, as none of the obverse features
appear to have been flattened. At least one example (the James F.
Lindsay - 1978 GENA, Lot 1839 example) shows triple punching.
Beware of forgeries with
fake "CAL." punched into regular 1848 Quarter Eagles. This
normally results in some flattening of the obverse features opposite the
punch. We're not aware of any metallurgical testing having been
performed on the various 1848 Quarter Eagles, but we suspect that the
California ore of the "CAL."s will contain trace elements in
different amounts than in the "Eastern" ore of the regular 1848
Quarter Eagles. Only a single "CAL." punch was used, so
any pretender must match the exact positioning and spacing of the
lettering and period of the punch on a known genuine piece (see enlarged
image above). Placement of the punch relative to other elements on
the reverse varies, so this cannot be used as an indicator of
authenticity.
Some 1848 "CAL."
Quarter Eagles have been called "Proof" in the past (Delp,
Miles, Pierce, and Kern), but none were struck from the same dies as true
1848 Proofs.
The finest example graded by PCGS is a single MS-68.
Significant examples:
PCGS MS-68. Ex - Bowers and
Merena Galleries "The Rarities Sale", July 31, 2002, Lot 716,
illustrated, not sold
PCGS MS-66 (illustrated
above). Ex - Clapp - Eliasberg, Lot 145, sold for $41,800.00 -
Auction '85, Lot 923, sold for $46,200.00 - Hanks & Associates - Great Lakes
collection - Mike Storeim
Recent appearances:
PCGS AU-53. Ex - Bowers and Merena
Galleries' Robert W. Schwan Collection Sale, October 26-27, 2000, Lot 2150
at $24,150.00
EF-40 Cleaned. Ex-
Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Inc.'s "October 2000 Long Beach
Sale" October 5-7, 2000, Lot 7062, illustrated, not sold
PCGS VF-35. Ex -
Stack's sale of June 1989, Lot 146 - Jay Roe - Bowers and Merena Galleries
"The Rarities Sale", July 31, 2002, Lot 717, illustrated, sold
for $13,800.00
Sources and/or
recommended reading:
"Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial
Coins" by Walter Breen
"The PCGS Population
Report, April 2003" by The
Professional Coin Grading Service
"United States Gold
Coins - An Analysis of Auction Records, Volume II, Quarter Eagles
1796-1929" by David W. Akers
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