The “King of Pioneer Gold” is expected to lead Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ Nov. 14 Rarities Night session.

The special presentation striking of an 1855 Kellogg & Co. $50 “slug” is graded Proof 63 Cameo by Professional Coin Grading Service and was retained by assayer Augustus Humbert until his death in 1873.

The obverse is an interpretation of the Coronet Liberty Head portrait used on contemporary circulating gold coins, with the coronet inscribed KELLOGG & CO instead of LIBERTY.

The cataloger explains, “The reverse has an elegantly engraved perched eagle in the style of Charles Cushing Wright’s 1851 Humbert coinage produced by the United States Assay Office in San Francisco, but slightly differently executed, and with the ribbon inscribed 1809 GRS / 887 THOUS.” The dies are noteworthy for their high-quality work by Ferdinand Grüner, whose signature F. GRÜNER appears on the neck truncation.

Kellogg & Co., the partnership of John Glover Kellogg and Humbert, produced 300,000 gold $20 pieces in 1854 and 1855, along with an unknown number of round $50 coins dated 1855. The cataloger relays of the latter, “Their origin is shrouded in mystery; so far as is known none were either produced for or released into circulation, and numismatic knowledge of the issue was limited throughout the 19th century,” as their existence seems absent from contemporary newspaper reports.

The dozen, or so, known survivors are Proof strikes, leading researchers to conclude that these Kellogg & Co. $50 pieces were intended as presentation pieces.

This one has a provenance that includes six decades in the Louis E. Eliasberg Sr. Collection, and the lot includes a large blue Capital Plastics holder created for the coin when it was part of this collection.

The cataloger praises the vivid yellow-gold surfaces, with olive undertones. “There are no significant marks, however, and a small planchet rift (as made) that extends from Liberty’s neck through the final digit 5 in the date to the border is the most useful identifier for provenance purposes,” the cataloger writes.

Nearly perfect

The session includes two nearly perfect examples of early 20th century gold coins. A 1901 Coronet $2.50 quarter eagle graded Proof 69 Deep Cameo by PCGS is one of three in this grade within the entire type, with none finer.

While the mintage of 223 Proof strikes is the highest of the series, and the mintage was well-produced, this one is especially well-preserved and served as the plate coin for John Dannreuther’s 2018 book United States Proof Coins, Volume IV: Gold. Dannreuther estimates 130 to 170 have survived from the original production, all produced from a single die pair.

He notes that 1901 is the last year the Philadelphia Mint heavily frosted the devices, concluding that the issue is “the pinnacle in output for the Proof Liberty Head series.”

Another essentially flawless standout is an 1908-S Indian Head $10 eagle graded Mint State 69 by Numismatic Guaranty Co. with rich orange-gold color and no hints of the copper spots that are often seen on the issue.

It is the only example graded MS-69 by either PCGS or NGC of the No Motto reverse subtype.

It realized $182,125 a decade ago at Stack’s Bowers’ 2013 Chicago American Numismatic Association convention auction.

Most of the modest mintage of 59,850 pieces went into circulation, just two years after the San Francisco Mint survived a major earthquake. Thankfully for collectors, there are some high-end survivors, including one graded MS-68 by PCGS that sold in 2005 for $149,500 that is now housed in a PCGS MS-68+ holder.

Connect with Coin World:  
Sign up for our free eNewsletter
Access our Dealer Directory  
Like us on Facebook  
Follow us on X (Twitter)
Keep in touch on MyCollect - the social media platform for collectibles 

Whether you’re a current subscriber or new, you can take advantage of the best offers on magazine subscriptions available in digital, print or both! Whether you want your issue every week or every month, there’s a subscription to meet your needs.