Top ranked California fractional and small gold Registry Set looks nice!

Zoins

I just looked up the small gold Registry Sets this morning after enjoying the recent two threads.

• What is the prevailing thoughts on California fractional gold?
• California Fractionals

The Wang Family Collection is on top for both. Anyone know jcping, who manages the sets?

• California Fractional Gold - Complete Type Set
• California Fractional Gold - Mini Type Set

Not only are they number 1, they have 3 slots in the All-Time Finest Top 5 for the Mini Type Set.

I really like Cal Fractionals, but don't have any yet. I've found the TrueViews to be really enjoyable so thanks to Phil @PCGSPhoto and team!

Here's one of their coins that stands out to me, tracing its history back to Augustus Humbert. How great is that of a provenance?

1854 Defiant Eagle Gold Quarter - BG-220 - PCGS AU55
Ex. Augustus Humbert(?), Andrew Christian Zabriskie
PCGS Price Guide: $42,500; Realized (3/15/21): $50,400

This is a great looking piece. I did not realize such a small Cal Fractional could go for so much.

Kagin's Provenance:
Ex Dennis Steinmetz 1983, ex Jeff Garrett, Lexington, KY circa 1982-83, ex NERCA, 4/10/1981, lot 1498, $12,650, ex Ken Goldman, Boston, MA (joined PNG 1975), paid $1,750, ex unknown intermediaries, ex Andrew C. Zabriskie before 1909 (?), ex Augustus Humbert 1873 or 1874 (?), ex M. Jordan and Gottard Koehler partnership, San Francisco (dissolved 1854)(?) The William C. O'Connor Collection

• Cert: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/40625005
• Sale: https://auctions.kagins.com/Unique-Defiant-Eagle-Type-Rarity-7_i40259126

calgolddiver

REALLY nice !!!

coinsarefun

Yowsers that's beautiful! I sure wish my eyes weren't going downhill in a hurry.

Zoins

Kargin's has some good info on the Defiant Eagle. It seems like the Augustus Humber provenance may be speculation. Here's an excerpt from the lot description:

The Defiant Eagle type—unique among small California gold designs—was generally unknown to numismatics until two examples surfaced in Henry Chapman's auction of the Andrew C. Zabriskie Collection, June 3-4, 1909. However, another example was in the collection of Robert C.H. Brock of Philadelphia, who collected actively from the 1880s to the 1890s and who donated his collection to the University of Pennsylvania in 1898; it was purchased with the rest of his coins by B. Max Mehl in 1952 and sold at auction Nov. 30, 1954.

But how did Zabriskie get these Defiant Eagle coins in the first place? In 1873 or 1874, he purchased the California coin collection of U.S. Assayer of Gold Augustus Humbert from his California executors. Presumably he found a few of these coins in an envelope, unused, and began trading them to other collectors, retaining two for himself. (Zabriskie joined the American Numismatic Society in 1874.) Sadly, we may never know!