1850 $5 Mormon MS(PCGS#10265)

Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

3494

Grade

XF40

Price

28,800

Lot Description

A boldly defined and fully appreciable example of this scarcer Mormon issue. Warm honey-olive surfaces also reveal subtle highlights of pale pinkish-rose at isolated viewing angles. Minimally abraded, a rare attribute for the type, and quite smooth in hand.<p>The gold coins issued under the auspices of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints have long captivated collectors. Settling in the Great Salt Valley, the early Mormon pioneers established the State of Deseret. Many continued west to California on the eve of the discovery of gold in 1848. Once the Gold Rush was in full swing, many of these Mormon settlers began sending some of the great wealth back to Deseret as tithes. As with the coin situation in California, coin of all types was in short supply and gold dust presented its own unique challenges as a circulating medium. By the end of 1848, Brigham Young and John Kay announced plans to set up a small mint in Salt Lake City to process the influx of gold dust into coin. Operations commenced in December of 1848 and continued throughout 1849 and into 1850. Designed by Young and engraved by Kay, the $5 piece features the All-Seeing Eye with a bishop's mitre on the obverse and two clasping hands on the reverse with the abbreviation G.S.L.C.P.C ("Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold"), a claim that is not entirely accurate. Because of the rather primitive minting and assay equipment, the purity and weight of the coins were consistently below face value, often by large amounts. An 1850 assay by Jacob Eckfeldt and William DuBois at the Philadelphia Mint and found the coins distinctly lacking: "The weights are more irregular, and the values very deficient...The 5-dollar about 111 grains, $4.30." While some variances could be expected, discrepancies of this magnitude immediately impacted the coins' reputation. The coins thereafter would only be accepted at huge discounts. Most of the estimated $70,000 in Mormon gold coins produced up to when the mint closed its doors in late 1850 were driven from circulation and quickly ended up in melting pots. While there was one further attempt at a pioneer gold coinage in 1860, Mormon gold coins would no longer make a measurable impact in the local economy. Rare in all grades, in can be said that there is no such thing as a "common" Mormon gold coin and all are greatly prized by today's numismatists. Gently circulated and full of eye appeal, the shrewd collector would do well to plan a strong bidding strategy for the example offered here.