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Bought a nice crustry old piece of Mormon gold last week....
Lakesammman
Posts: 17,455 ✭✭✭✭✭
Nice coin. It took me quite some time to decide to buy it (thinking about it since the summer ANA, as a matter of fact). I was so used to looking at stripped gold pieces that looking at something crusty with luster was rather unsettling. 
This completes a mini-territorial/pioneer type set started a few years ago - Carolina's, Georgia, Denver, Utah, SF and Oregon - although upgrades will be sought out.
Edit - most of the "scratches" are on the holder.
This completes a mini-territorial/pioneer type set started a few years ago - Carolina's, Georgia, Denver, Utah, SF and Oregon - although upgrades will be sought out.
Edit - most of the "scratches" are on the holder.
"My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose, Cardinal.
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- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
G.S.L.C.P.C?
No beehive?
I wonder where it was made? At the time, mormon country was not just Utah.
But assaying at the time was crude to say the least - lots of silver in the mix, I'm told.
From what I can see it has high AU, low MS grading possibilities?
I think I see rub but for all I know it was a strike issue on the rev.
I find it amazing that a coin like that is not pedigreed?
I will take a stab of MS61 but for some reason i am not listening to
my gut feeling of AU58. I hope I am not too off :-|
I wish i had your budget lakesmmman. Can you share in private
message what the piece cost?
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
-Randy Newman
This completes a mini-territorial/pioneer type set started a few years ago - Carolina's, Georgia, Denver, Utah, SF and Oregon - although upgrades will be sought out.
When you upgrade it, please let me know first.
Which makes it an ideal specialty IMO.
Historical facts, largely unknown by the masses concerning early settlers and pioneers are some of the reasons I find Mormon Gold so intriquing. Yours has some serious character, Lakesammman.
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From the National Park Service.gov website :
When Brigham Young and 3,000 Mormons set out for Utah on February 4, 1846, expedition leaders expected to reach their goal by the coming winter. But unforeseen difficulties forced the Mormons to abandon their original schedule. The journey was split into two sections: Nauvoo to Omaha, Nebraska in 1846; and, Omaha to the Salt Lake Valley of Utah in 1847.
The first section - 265 miles - tested the Mormons most severely. Although plans had already been made for the first group to leave Nauvoo in the spring of 1846, rumors of federal persecution and revocation of the Nauvoo city charter persuaded Brigham Young to begin the move earlier than expected.
February that year in Iowa was marked by harsh weather and bitter cold. With 500 wagons, the Mormons grimly faced miles of axle-deep mud bogs and rough, obscure trails. Many of the emigrants were unskilled in trail life and leadership was disorganized. Because of the hurried departure, important provisions had been left behind by many families. All of these factors combined to cause difficulties on a day to day basis.
Yet as the Mormons forged ahead, they became more organized and began traveling in groups of 10s, 50s or 100s. To make things easier on Mormons who had delayed their departure from Nauvoo, improvements were made to the route along the way. Settlements such as Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah were established to provide way stations for the coming immigration.
Finally, by June 13, 1846, the first group of Mormons reached the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa. It had taken 120 days to cross 265 miles for an average of 2.25 miles a day. Some of these Mormons stayed in Council Bluffs, which was renamed Kanesville, while others crossed the Missouri and established Winter Quarters in present-day Omaha.
Brigham Young decided that the original plan to reach the Rockies by fall was now impossible. The Mormons would be staying on the Missouri until the following spring. Winter Quarters would prove to be a harsh stopping place during the winter of 1846-1847.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
https://www.ebay.com/mys/active
However, I can just imagine someone asking, "Why don't you clean that one? It's so dirty..."
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Very nice.
Mike
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
<< <i>how much is an item like that worth??? just curious. Looks neat >>
Heavy 5 to 6 figures on average for most Mormon Gold.
<< <i>That might just be the crustiest gold coin i've ever seen. By a factor of 20.
G.S.L.C.P.C?
No beehive?
I wonder where it was made? At the time, mormon country was not just Utah. >>
Made in SLC. Only place any of them were struck
Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
drool
You wouldn't believe how long it took to get him to sit still for this.
There are 6 sets of photographs of the collection and last year one set sold for $8650. Anyone know where I can view a set??
Ouch... thanks for posting your pic at no charge!
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
<< <i>Is this the example that was discovered in Joseph Smith's Outhouse
While I realize the above quote is in jest, it does raise some relevant points. First, Joseph Smith was gunned down in Cathage, Illinois years before the first Mormon Gold coin was minted years later in Salt Lake City. I was visiting Nauvoo, Illinois (where Joseph Smith resided at the time of his death) back in the mid 60's. There was some archeological work going on at the time and the most productive sites were in fact locations where the outhouses had been located. It seems lots of artifacts such as pottery were locatable at such sites. Apparently in their hasty departure from Nauvoo to points west some of the items that could not be taken were "buried" in the wells and later retrieved decades later by those who returned. Doubt if anyone intentionally used the outhouses for that purpose though.
Oh, as a point of interest, the gold in the circa 1850 Mormon gold coins came from gold dust that was used to pay "tithing" by the Mormons who had helped to discover gold in California. Later Mormon gold coins circa 1860 used gold from Colorado. That particular piece subject of the OP's initial post is a less common design although any Mormon Gold coin is relatively rare. Another factoid of interest is that the first $20.00 gold piece from the California Gold Rush was minted under the direction of Brigham Young in 1849 in Salt Lake City, beating out the 1849 U.S. Double Eagle that resides in the Smithsonian. There were only a handful minted and are probably the most rare and desirable of all Mormon Gold Coins.
Here is another