5/8/25 9:22 PM
Gold: $3,284.12
Silver: $32.31
Platinum: $979.80
Palladium: $972.45
G/S: 101.64
Pt/G: 0.30
Contact
Register
Cart
Login
map11005 Olive Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63141
phone 314-692-2646 email Email
hoursMon - Fri: 8am to 5pm (CT)
Sat: 8am - 4pm (CT)
Lot #: Go
Lot Title: 1861 $20 Clark Gruber PCGS XF-40
Lot Number: 323
Description: MAGA Collection. Kagin-8, R.5+. 8 graded XF-40, fifteen higher at PCGS.

In the still-fledgling United States territories, prior gold rushes served to eventually inspire the creation of Federal branch mints, to wit, the Carolina Gold Rush (1799), Georgia Gold Rush (1828), and the California Gold Rush (1848-1855). That trend would not continue for future gold discoveries, such as during the Idaho Gold Rush or Black Hills of South Dakota Gold Rush, but on this occasion, the Clark-Gruber company happened to be in the right place at the right time, offering assaying and coinage services that carried integrity with regard to the fineness and quantity of gold in their coins. Thus, the private mint saw production for an albeit brief, but prodigious period of about three years (1858 – 1861). Thereafter, the Denver Mint would be created in its stead.

Consider the observation that Clark-Gruber could mint “fifteen or twenty coins a minute” (specifically the $10 gold eagle), and it becomes clear that their two-story brick facility was capable of handling the demands placed upon it by miners wishing to convert their gold dust and rugged gold nuggets into usable currency. Consequently, none is truly “rare” as a type, but all are desirable representatives of the relatively brief periods of optimism when miners set out toward the west to “strike it rich”.

The designs for both sides of the Clark-Gruber twenty obviously imitate that of official Federal emissions, but the production quality varies considerably. Even for an example assessed with only twenty points of wear, the portrait shows softness of detail not typical of a like-graded Philadelphia coin. Upper relief portions of Liberty's hair blend and merge (admittedly owing in some part to circulation), and the eagle displays minimal sharpness within the borders of his plumage. A single oblong abrasion in the obverse left field, a smaller one off to the right, and several typical smaller ticks spread out in haphazard manner. Closer examination reveals a few small, irregular voids on the lower neck, but the cataloger suggests these could very well be as-struck laminations in the planchet. Brassy luster emanates from the surface of the smooth and slightly glossy fields, accented with fairly broad splashes of crimson-gold.
PCGS #: 10142
Certification: 30012948
Estimate: $38,000-$43,000
Lot Status: Bidding has been closed for this lot.
  Login To Bid!
Hammered Price: $38,000
Price Realized: $43,700

Please Note: An 18% Buyers' Premium is added to the hammer price of all lots in this sale.

1861 $20 Clark Gruber PCGS XF-40
1861 $20 Clark Gruber PCGS XF-40
Close