PBA Galleries

60 pp. + leaf on Mormon coins. Steel-engraved frontispiece. (untitled) of the U.S. Mint; leaf printed in gold on blue paper showing varieties of California and Mormon coins; actual samples of California gold underneath two small Formica disks mounted on p.45. 7x4¼, original dark blue paper over boards, front cover lettered in gilt with gilt-embossed depictions of 5 gold coins, both obverse and reverse for a total of 10 images, rear cover lettered in silver with silver-embossed depictions of 5 silver coins, both obverse and reverse for a total of 10 images; all edges gilt. First Edition.

Rare first edition of one of the most sought-after and most fragile books on gold coinage at the time of the California Gold Rush. The second edition of the following year, with slightly expanded text, did not contain the original samples of California gold which add to the unique character the work. Streeter calls the slender volume "An important reference book for the beginning of gold mining in California," and Wheat remarks that "Actual samples of California `grain' and `bar' gold, and reproductions of privately minted 1849 gold coins of California and of the Mormons in Utah render this little book an extraordinary and colorful contemporary souvenir of the Gold Rush." Pages 21 to 31 describe four varieties of California gold coins issued from the following mints: "N.G. & N." of San Francisco, Oregon Exchange Company, Miners' Bank of San Francisco, and Moffat & Company of San Francisco; chapter IV is entitled "Gold from California." Cowan p.191; Flake 3108; Kurutz 217a; Sabin 21786; Streeter 2629; Wheat Books 67