1849 Mormon $5 PCGS VF30 CAC
On the morning of January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall, a carpenter from New Jersey partnered with John Augustus Sutter, spotted shiny metal in the tailrace of a newly built sawmill on Sutter’s land, then known as "New Helvetica." After pounding a nugget between two rocks and noting its remarkable malleability, further tests confirmed it was gold. This discovery ignited the California Gold Rush, one of the largest migrations in American history.
Due to their proximity to the goldfields, Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City were among the first prospectors to collect gold dust and nuggets. Under Brigham Young’s leadership, the isolated Mormon community in the Great Basin faced a shortage of circulating currency. To address this, they began minting their own gold coins using the California gold recovered from Sutter's Mill. The first coins ever struck from California gold we'e the 1848 Mormon $10 gold pieces, but only 46 were produced before the crucible shattered, halting production. It took nine months for a replacement to arrive, so it wasn;t until 1849 that smaller denominations had been designed and engraved into the dies for the $20, $5 and $2.50 Denominations.
The "Deseret Mint" produced an estimated 5,500 $5 gold pieces. These coins, bearing the inscription "Holiness to the Lord" and a clasped hands symbol, symbolized Mormon ingenuity and self-reliance. In addition to being substantially underweight, these coins were discovered to have an average fineness of only .866, and as a result most of them met their demise in the melting pot once they reached the east coast.
While the 1849 $5 is the most available Mormon gold issue with an estimated 150-175 pieces in private hands today, they still remain to be an elusive issue for a collector seeking a piece with even a trace of luster or originality. This example displays evidence of moderate but honest circulation, with notable wear on the details, however, that is about the worst thing you could possibly say about this incredibly well preserved and original piece of Salt Lake City Gold.
The strike appears quite full, and the lettering of the legend is well defined, the eye and miter easily identifiable with no significant hits, scrapes, or planchet defects to catch the eye. While a tiny bit of weakness might weaken the definition of the number "8" in the reverse date (which is holdered backwards as the obverse), there are many examples where the 8 is not even there at all. Some shallow, ancient slide marks could be noted on the hands for identification purposes only, but in hand they are virtually invisible, and this coins overall appearance is truly superb for the grade. We would much prefer a remarkable VF like this coin, to a scratchy, bright AU with all methods unholy used to "improve". There's a light russet hue that thickens at the peripheries, but the entire coin is blanketed with a unbroken apricot patina with no disturbances or deep slide marks that typically plague this issue.
The overall appearance of this piece makes it one of those coins that transcends any grade that one might assign, and opportunities to secure a coin like this come once in a blue moon, if you're lucky. The price may seem strong at first glance, but we had to pay up bring home this remarkable relic of history, and there is nothing currently available on the market that comes close to this level of appeal. Even with CAC approval, original skin on a mormon $5 is virtually a miracle, and a bright and marked up piece in this grade range would likely cost no less than 35-40k in the current market. The robust demand for these has shown no signs of fatigue, and locating the original coins is becoming more of a challenge with every passing year. These normally stay put for decades after they're acquired, and prying them loose from a collectors hands tends to be a herculean task. We are thrilled to be able to offer a treasure like this to our subscribers, and we hope that it will bring immense joy to whomever decides to add it to their collection.
The only VF30 CAC auction comp is from GC in 5/20, where the coin sold in a PCGS OGH holder for $25.3k. Nowadays, that coin is worth substantially more. There aren't many recent comps in the grades surrounding this coin either, the next most recent comp we've found was a PCGS XF40 OGH example at SB for $37.2k. The coin has a couple of large digs by the date and hands, we'd very much rather have this example.
PCGS Price Guide - $30,000
CAC Price Guide - $39,000
PCGS Population - 13/113
CAC Population - 3/19