A unique gold coin valued at $2.5 million will be on exhibit at the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Atlanta Expo, October 11-13. It is the 1854 Kellogg & Co. $20 gold piece personally owned by Augustus Humbert, United States Assayer of Gold—America’s finest-known Territorial gold coin.

There were three distinct periods of private gold coinage in Gold Rush California, and the firm of John Glover Kellogg was active during the third and final period. A former employee of the United States Assay Office under Moffat & Co. and Curtis, Perry and Ward, Kellogg opened his own firm on December 14, 1853. The Assay Office ceased operations the same day so that its facilities could be converted to house the new San Francisco Mint. Immediately upon its founding, Kellogg & Co. received the endorsement of Curtis, Perry, and Augustus Humbert. The latter gentleman was United States Assayer for California, and he later served as one of Kellogg’s business associates.

Along with Moffat & Co., Kellogg & Co. is perhaps the most important private minter in the history of Gold Rush California. Between the closing of the United States Assay Office and the beginning of operations at the San Francisco Mint, there was a four-month period during which no establishment was prepared to meet California’s coinage needs.

As early as mid-January 1854, several banking houses in San Francisco and Sacramento had already identified a shortage. These businesses wasted little time in petitioning Kellogg & Co. to supply private gold coins that would fill the void until the San Francisco Mint was ready to open. The firm accepted, and its first $20 gold pieces were issued on February 9, 1854. George Albrecht Kuner, a Bavarian goldsmith, probably engraved the dies for Kellogg’s coinage, the design of which closely resembled the federal government’s official $20 gold coin.

Although the San Francisco Mint commenced operations on April 3, 1854, chronic shortages of alloy and parting acids resulted in numerous delays that, in turn, required Kellogg & Co. to continue issuing coins through 1855. By the end of that year, at which time the San Francisco Mint was finally able to provide enough coins to meet California’s commercial needs, Kellogg & Co. delivered approximately $6 million worth of $20 gold pieces. The seemingly insatiable need for new coinage, along with the aforementioned endorsement that Kellogg & Co. received, meant that the firm’s product met with nearly universally acceptance.

The coin being offered here is the single most important $20 gold piece issued by Kellogg & Co. It is a specimen striking impressed from the same dies used to produce regular 1854 Kellogg & Co. $20 gold coins of the Short Arrows reverse variety. The dies were not polished as extensively as those used to strike Proof coins in the United States Mint during the 1850s, but the finish is still brilliant and far superior to that of a coin intended for use in circulation. Great care was obviously taken in the production of this piece, and it was almost certainly presented to Augustus Humbert shortly after leaving the press. Perhaps Kellogg intended that this coin serve as a sign of appreciation for Humbert’s endorsement of his firm’s reputation?

This special exhibit is sponsored by Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California. The Whitman Coin and Collectibles Atlanta Expo will be at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Northwest Atlanta, Thursday-Saturday, October 11-13, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, with free parking and admission.