California Small Denomination Gold

1870 Round 25 Cents. BG-808A. Rarity-8-. Liberty Head. MS-62 (PCGS).

Struck by Frontier & Co. circa 1870 from the same obverse die as BG-808, but from an entirely different reverse die. We note that BG-808 has several tiny C-like crescents at the bottom of the reverse wreath, while BG-808A, as offered here, has but two of these crescents. The date is also farther right on the present variety than on BG-808, with the 1 of the date directly below the O in DOLLAR rather than below the space between the D and O as on BG-808; numerous other tiny differences can be seen when the present coin's reverse is compared to the reverse of BG-808. Soft green-gold surfaces and struck in a "cup-shaped" manner where the obverse is convex and the reverse is concave. Due to this, some of the detail on Liberty's head is not struck up and some of the central details on the reverse are also softly defined. There are currently four examples certified by PCGS, and one other certified by NGC, making for a tally of five known certified specimens (not accounting for resubmissions). California Small Denomination gold specialists typically flock to rarities such as the present coin, and we suspect the "Gold Rush" will be on in earnest when this rare variety crosses the auction block.

PCGS# 10757. NGC ID: 2BSX.

PCGS Population: 1; 3 finer. NGC also lists a solitary MS-62 example.

Estimate: 2000