Very Rare NEWP - GTG

PeakRarities

Tis is an issue that has eluded me for the past couple years. The Oregon Exchange $5 is quite rare (High R-5), and has one of the most fascinating backtories of all Pioneer Gold. About 6,000 coins were struck, give or take, and less than 1% survive today. Of the ones that did survive, the majority of them are damaged, repaired, or otherwise mutilated, which makes finding a problem-free original example a tall task. I had an opportunity to buy a drop dead gorgeous AU-58 CAC a while ago, but sadly the price was beyond my reach. I passed on several others within my price range because of issues or overall lack of appeal.

Finally a problem-free piece within my price range made its way to my hands for review, and I didn't hesitate to write a check then and there. The coin is straight graded by NGC, and I figured it would be fun to do a GTG before I try to do anything with it. After the reveal, I'll add my subsequent analysis of the coin and some more information, but let's see how the forum grades pioneer gold.

"The news of the discovery of gold in California reached the Oregon Territory in late July 1848. That news was confirmed in Oregon City, seat of Clackamas County, on August 9 of that year, when the brig Henry docked with gold dust, arriving from San Francisco, and by October more than two-thirds of the men in Oregon had departed to seek treasure in the gold fields of California. The Oregon Spectator, founded in 1846, one of the first newspapers west of the Mississippi River, was forced to stop publishing in 1848 "because its printer, with 3,000 officers, lawyers, physicians, farmers and mechanics were leaving for the gold fields." (Kagin, Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States.) By spring of the following year, gold dust had almost entirely replaced beaver and other fur pelts as the primary medium of exchange, although it traded at a substantial discount to silver coins (when available) and to its value at the Philadelphia Mint. Miners were losing money.

Against this backdrop, the Oregon Exchange Company was formed, with the express purpose of weighing and stamping gold. Although Oregon was officially declared a territory of the United States on March 3, 1849 -- rendering any plan to coin gold clearly unconstitutional -- several prominent residents determined to proceed with the plan. The surnames of those residents were Kilborn, Magruder, Taylor, Abernethy, Willson, Rector, Gill, Campbell, and Smith. Their initials K. M. T. A. W. R. G. S. appear around the rim of the five dollar gold pieces, which also picture a beaver on a log and a laurel wreath. In error, the initials T.O. (rather than O.T., for Oregon Territory) were stamped on the obverse. The five dollar contains the reverse legend OREGON EXCHANGE COMPANY around the periphery, with 130 G. / NATIVE GOLD. / 5 D. in the center. The initials of two men were omitted from the ten dollar pieces struck later, and the T.O. was corrected to O.T.

The gold coinage was unalloyed with silver or copper, and succeeded in raising the price of gold dust from $12 to $16 as the pieces circulated. Alloy was purposely omitted to ensure that the pieces would be accepted regardless of variances in the purity of gold dust, but their inherent softness caused them to suffer in contact with the harder alloyed gold coinage from California -- and their higher intrinsic value caused them to soon be melted.The fives were struck to the extent of 6,000 pieces, along with 2,850 of the tens."

-Heritage Auctions Archives

https://player.vimeo.com/video/1006808292

PeakRarities

Please utilize the Vimeo link below the two pictures, its a short video, but should aid in making a determination about the grade.

lermish

Davidk7

@lermish said:

Great reference, some of my favorite movies of all time!

PeakRarities

@lermish, I would have bet my net worth that someone would post that meme. Glad you got to claim it! 🤣

DrewU

XF-45. Cool coin!!!

lermish

@PeakRarities said:
@lermish, I would have bet my net worth that someone would post that meme. Glad you got to claim it! 🤣

It's obligatory and cliche at this point but it still makes me laugh..I couldn't help myself 😂

hummingbird_coins

Smudge

45.

DocBenjamin

VF 25

FlyingAl

I grade this coin ICGP - I Can't Grade Pioneer.

Fantastic look to it though, as you surely know! I liked it the first time I saw it.

johnny010

40

Jacques_Loungecoque

20

kaz

Really neat coin. VF30?

golden

30 NGC , 25 at PCGS.

dcarr

Nice, VF35.

Torey

Wow, nice!
XF40

breakdown

My first thought was 25. But Pioneer gold is graded on a curve in three dimensions so who knows.
Great pickup.

Kove

XF40

Copperindian

VF35

RobertScotLover

Beautiful piece and great educational write up

Cougar1978

VF 20

Moparmonster

Very interesting history! I grew up and lived in Oregon City (lovely town) for 28 years. Abernathy is a well known name there. Haven’t heard of the others. Cool coin! I am gonna have to go against everyone and say G6 since the rim seems worn into the coin a bit but maybe that’s strike?? Either way, it’s a lovely looking piece.

HillbillyCollector

Beautiful DD!
45-50cac.

lermish

@FlyingAl said:
I grade this coin ICGP - I Can't Grade Pioneer.

Fantastic look to it though, as you surely know! I liked it the first time I saw it.

Alex hit the nail on the head. I don't think I have ever seen a GTG with such varied responses, ranging from G6 to AU50.

TomB

It's gorgeous!

As an aside, did you know that our own @dcarr made some somewhat similarly struck pieces (beaver side) using 1849 eagles?

PerryHall

VF20. That coin spent some time in commerce so I assume it was well accepted by merchants, bar tenders, etc.

johnny9434

25/30

jfriedm56

Wonderful pickup. If I were to venture a guess, VF 25

jesbroken

Not a gold aficianado, but on its looks I first thought vf25, but seems I'm a little low on gold gtg's so I'll venture vf30. Nice pickup for you.
Jim

MFeld

What a great looking example, Dan!
I’ll go with XF40.

LukeMarshall

Great Gold!
Maybe a 35 ?

coinkat

Very tough call. Grading becomes more problematic given the small surviving population… graded or raw. And this becomes a factor given the subjective nature of grading. The fields look above average and for that reason alone, I see the grade floor at 35. There is obvious wear but the real question in my mind is the quality of the strike for the issue. I have not seen enough of these to really opine one way or the other. From just looking at the coin, it seems probable that the high points and detail were just never fully struck. I like the coin for what it is and not the holder that it may be in.

My grading probability analysis is as follows: 25% shot @VF35 35% shot @40 and 40% shot @45. So in my mind it is a coin flip between 40 and 45. I like the coin so I would likely grade it 45 but the probability analysis supports an outcome @40. Again a subjective tough call and I would feel better if I had a history of seeing more of these. And no I did not bother research images of the surviving population before offering my thoughts.

Manifest_Destiny

30

Coinscratch

25

SIowhand

Great coin.

30

calgolddiver

outstanding ... 35

Crypto

I like it as a 40 although I see why people think VF. A VF wouldn’t show much beaver fur

As for the NGC grade maybe 45 or 50

seatedlib3991

Never seen one before. Beaver has what seems like 50% of his detail and most coins with 50% detail in the ANA guide book would be in the 35/40 range. best guess I got. James

Mr_Spud

40

SimonW

30

Catbert

Don't know nuthin' about these, but I'll take a wag for XF40!

Soldi

AU55

PeakRarities

This is fun 😅, I'm going to let it go until tomorrow afternoon before I do the reveal.

HillbillyCollector

Dang, Dan!
At least say if anyone ones in the ballpark!😳😉

JCH22

Off topic of grade but the engraver sure had a colorful life, and death....

CAMPBELL, Hamilton (12 Jun 1812-12 Jun 1863 ): m'd 05 Feb 1835 BIDDLE, Harriet; came to Oregon on the ship Lausanne with his wife and one child via Cape Horn with the Jason Lee party; died in Mexico; burial location unknown

"Artisan and mission worker, was born in Virginia, the son of Robert Campbell. In 1835 he married Harriet B. Biddle, of Virginia, and with one daughter came to Oregon on the ship Lausanne, becoming a member of the Willamette Mission above Champoeg in 1840. Campbell assisted in building the 'Parsonage', had charge of the Mission Indian School, and had control of the stock, which he bought when the Mission was discontinued, thus gaining the sobriquet 'Cow' Campbell. In 1849 he engraved the dies used in coining the 'beaver' money, in 1854 he engaged in the photographic business in Corvallis and later in San Francisco. Campbell went to Mexico in 1862, becoming Superintendent of Mines in Guaynas, where he was murdered by bandits."

Dictionary of Oregon History edited by Corning p. 41

Allentram

Well, since I live here in Oregon, and just a few miles from Oregon City, I feel obligated to participate. My WAG is VF25.

oldabeintx

Enjoyed reading the history of the coin and the engraver, thank you for taking the time to post. Another beautiful pioneer Dan. I’m going to go 45/50 based on the crispness of some of the features and the overall condition of the surfaces. I’m an optimist.

PeakRarities

@JCH22 said:
Off topic of grade but the engraver sure had a colorful life, and death....

CAMPBELL, Hamilton (12 Jun 1812-12 Jun 1863 ): m'd 05 Feb 1835 BIDDLE, Harriet; came to Oregon on the ship Lausanne with his wife and one child via Cape Horn with the Jason Lee party; died in Mexico; burial location unknown

"Artisan and mission worker, was born in Virginia, the son of Robert Campbell. In 1835 he married Harriet B. Biddle, of Virginia, and with one daughter came to Oregon on the ship Lausanne, becoming a member of the Willamette Mission above Champoeg in 1840. Campbell assisted in building the 'Parsonage', had charge of the Mission Indian School, and had control of the stock, which he bought when the Mission was discontinued, thus gaining the sobriquet 'Cow' Campbell. In 1849 he engraved the dies used in coining the 'beaver' money, in 1854 he engaged in the photographic business in Corvallis and later in San Francisco. Campbell went to Mexico in 1862, becoming Superintendent of Mines in Guaynas, where he was murdered by bandits."

Dictionary of Oregon History edited by Corning p. 41

I don’t consider that to be off topic, thanks for the additional historical info.

PeakRarities

@HillbillyCollector said:
Dang, Dan!
At least say if anyone ones in the ballpark!😳😉

Some of you absolutely nailed it, others are out in space 😂.

marcmoish

Nice piece, 20 for me.

@lermish helped me see this one below the surface, too.