1850 $5 Mormon Five Dollar AU55 PCGS. CAC. K-5, High R.5....

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1850 Mormon Five Dollar, AU55 CAC
Important Territorial Gold Coin
Discontinued Due to Light Weight

1850 $5 Mormon Five Dollar AU55 PCGS. CAC. K-5, High R.5. Green-gold surfaces are free of abrasions and contain some copper-orange highlights in the protected areas. Striking weakness only manifests on the obverse at DOLLARS and on the reverse around the HOL of HOLINESS, both peripheral in nature.
     As part of their early settlement in the West, the Mormons had an outsized impact on gold discoveries in California and on the history of the Western U.S. in general. After moving to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, and losing their founder Joseph Smith on the way, the Mormons permanently settled in what is now Utah (then called Deseret) in 1847. A group of Mormons continued westward to California and stayed for the winter on order from leader Brigham Young to earn as much money as possible to bring back, as one of the issues with the Utah community was a lack of coinage. One of these Mormons was engineer James Marshall, who contracted with John Sutter to build a sawmill. Marshall discovered the first California gold on January 24, 1848 at Sutter's Mill, and fellow Mormon Sam Brannan publicized it.
     Throughout the rest of 1848, many Mormons returned from California with significant amounts of gold, most of it in the form of gold dust. This, however, made it difficult to transact. A meeting on November 25, 1848 finalized the coinage design, and the first examples were coined on December 12 and were dated 1849. Production continued into 1850. All issues have a consistent obverse design, with clasped hands in the center to represent strength in unity, the date below, the denomination at the bottom periphery, and the legend G. S. L. C. P. G. on the top periphery, which stands for, "Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold." The reverse of all issues contain the legend HOLINESS TO THE LORD around the periphery, but the motif on the present 1850 issue is somewhat different than the original, which had a three-point Phrygian crown, the emblem of the Priesthood.
     The Mormon coins circulated not only in Utah but found their way nationwide as the Mormons purchased supplies from outsiders. Their demise was swift and came due to a failure to withstand the extreme scrutiny that gold coins of any type were subjected to in those days: weight and purity. In January 1850, New Orleans Mint Assayer William Hort found that a Mormon $20 was only .892 fine and was underweight by 85 grains, or 20%. In their seminal 1850 work New Varieties of Gold and Silver Coins, Jacob Eckfeldt and William DuBois report: "[t]he 20-dollar piece weighs from 436 to 453 grains, value $16.90 to $17.53. The 10-dollar, 219 to 224 grains, $8.50 to $8.70. The 5-dollar about 111 grains, $4.30. The 2½ dollar, about 58 grains, $2.25." This suggests that Mormon coins were 10-15% underweight, depending on the issue. Many similar reports followed, calling the Mormon coins "spurious," "debased," or "vile falsehoods." The coins were either rejected in commerce or traded at a deep discount, and likely as a result of this, were discontinued soon after. The minting equipment was sold on August 12, 1850, with the $5 coins of the present design representing the last emissions. One attempt at renewal in 1860 saw only a single half eagle issue.
     The present offering is a wonderful survivor of this short-lived series and contains a much closer and certain connection to a vital period in American history than almost any regular issue U.S. gold coin could provide. Generous bids should follow as a result. Listed on page 402 of the 2026 Guide Book.
From The Presidio Collection, Part II.

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 6J6X, PCGS# 10265, Greysheet# 11823)

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