1850 Baldwin & Co. (San Francisco) $5 Gold. PCGS graded AU-50. A charming example of this important Territorial Gold rarity. The rims are high and round, with deep beading inside them. The surfaces show some normal use, but the coin just does not have the usual large scraps and "insults" so typically found on Gold Rush era issues. Baldwin, of course, struck these in small numbers, and relatively few have survived, fewer still in such a desirable shape as this piece. It, too, has the lovely old-gold look enhanced by reddish toning atop a bit 'o sparkle from the dies. Curiously, the final "A" in "CALIFORNIA" is cut over an upside-down "A." Sure to elicit a strong bid!
While George Baldwin and Tom Holman were busy in San Francisco making jewelry out of gold dust and ore sold to them by local miners, and after May of 1850 knocking out USA-like gold coins for commerce with the coining machines they purchased from Kohler & Co., the world at large stood poised to change forever because of the wealth coming out of the Golden State. In fact, in this same year, the London School of Mines was established in the English capital. America's population stood at a mere 23 million (about 15% of whom were black slaves)--and Henry Clay, ever the unaffable one, presented the U.S. Senate with some anti-slavery resolutions that became the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California to the Union as a Free State, adding fuel to the heated debate over slavery. For today's California buffs it is worth remembering that the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was signed between America and England; it was an early proposal for a much-needed canal across Central America, whereas in 1850 any freshly mined native gold ore had to be shipped around South America or carried across the isthmus and loaded on another vessel to be shipped on to New York. The times, they were perilous! How could a coin such as this, obviously used as money, have come down to us in such charming shape?.
