50 Dollars

Description:

Kellogg & Co. was one of the last private coiners to appear in San Francisco, but its double eagles were well made and well engraved. One of those responsible for the artwork was Ferdinand Gruner, another Central European emigre who may have also been responsible for some of the fractional gold coinage of the decade of the 1850s.

Kellogg & Co. was an offshoot of a larger firm, Moffat & Co. John Glover Kellogg had served as Moffat's cashier, while the other principal, G. F. Richter, had been its assayer.

Perhaps emboldened by public acceptance of their twenty-dollar coins, Kellogg & Co. put plans into motion to produce a fifty-dollar piece. Eleven coins, all proofs, survive to bear testimony to this idea. But no business strikes resulted, even though a competitor, Wass, Molitor & Co., did succeed in circulating such pieces during that same year.

Date Made: 1855

Mint: Kellogg and Company

Place Made: United States: California

See more items in: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection, Coins, Currency and Medals, Josiah K. Lilly Jr. Collection

Exhibition: The Value of Money

Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

Related Web Publication: http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm

Related Publication: Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms

Credit Line: Estate of Josiah K. Lilly

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: NU.68.159.1149Accession Number: 283645Catalog Number: 68.159.1149

Object Name: coin

Physical Description: gold (overall metal)0 (overall die axis)0 (overall die axis measurement)struck (overall production method)Measurements: overall: .2 cm x 4.2 cm; 3/32 in x 1 21/32 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-3379-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1101709

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