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1852/1 $10 Humbert Ten Dollar, H.H. PIERSON / W.W. LIGHT / DENTIST Counterstamp VF30 NGC. Rulau Calif-132, Brunk-490. Kagin-8...
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Description
1852/1 Augustus Humbert Ten Dollar, VF30
Unique Curved Counterstamp
H.H. PIERSON / W.W. LIGHT / DENTIST
1852/1 $10 Humbert Ten Dollar, H.H. PIERSON / W.W. LIGHT /
DENTIST Counterstamp VF30 NGC. Rulau Calif-132, Brunk-490. Kagin-8
Host Coin. William W. Light (1819-1895) was born on a farm near
Bethel, Ohio and was a boyhood friend of Ulysses S. Grant. He
studied medicine in Cincinnati, and later practiced dentistry into
the 1840s. His August 1849 arrival in California quickly led to a
job at the J.S. Ormsby private mint on K Street, where he earned
$50 a day cutting dies, and utilized his dental rolling equipment.
We wonder if it was W.W. Light who cut the dies for the exceedingly
rare J.S. Ormsby five and ten dollar gold pieces! From 1852 to 1861
Light worked in partnership with Dr. H.H. Pierson. It was then when
this attractive, well-circulated Humbert ten must have been
counterstamped.Dr. Light's curved countermark appears on seven or eight known coins of various denominations, but this the only example on a U.S. Assay Office ten dollar gold piece from the Moffat-Humbert era, and the only piece we know of that includes the H.H. Pierson imprint as part of the countermark.
Counterstamps on gold coins are extremely rare, and this piece is reminiscent of another well-known Sacramento counterstamp by druggist J.L. Polhemus, whose mark appears on many coins, including the famous counterstamp on an 1857-S double eagle. We sold that memorable coin in our November 2018 Dallas Signature auction as Lot 3347 for $52,800. Given the rarity and importance of the H.H. PIERSON / W.W. LIGHT / DENTIST mark on a scarce 1852/1 ten dollar Territorial gold piece, this outstanding Gold Rush relic is certain command a similarly strong price.
Learn more at the Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis.
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