50 Dollars, United States Assay Office of Gold, United States, 1851
date: label: Date made
content: 1852
label: date made
content: 1851
name: label: issuing authority
content: United States Assay Office of Gold
label: maker
content: Humbert, Augustus
notes: label: Description
content: Augustus Humbert's provisional operation circulated huge octagonal ingots of this type for a few years during the early 1850s. Political pressures in Washington prevented Humbert's operation from striking anything lower than a fifty for the first two years in 1852, a reorganized operation received the right to strike twenties and tens as well.
label: Description
content: Cumbersome or not, the enormous "slugs" of 1851-52 did pass as money and may have been the principle accepted currency in California at the time. Their gold content was good, and their finish (they were struck by Moffat & Co., which eventually became the nucleus of the San Francisco branch of the United States Mint) was excellent, if massive.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California
label: place of issue
content: United States: California
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0009.0992
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0009.0992
label: accession number
content: 1991.0009
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Coin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall metal)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis measurement)
label: Physical Description
content: struck (overall production method)