Q. David Bowers
At the time the smallest United States gold coin was the $2.50 piece, popularly known as the quarter eagle. (The gold dollar was not introduced until the following year, 1849.) The estimated 1,389 quarter eagles from the first government deposit bore the notation CAL. on the reverse, thus making them the first commemorative coins ever issued by a United States mint. The fact that these are true commemoratives is without a doubt, as the above government correspondence indicates that the pieces were to have been made to satisfy those seeking a souvenir coin specifically made from California gold.
Apparently, 1848 CAL. quarter eagles were available at face value to anyone desiring them. Although 1,389 pieces were minted, probably fewer than two or three dozen numismatists learned of them at or near the time of issue and added the coins to their cabinets. Among those acquiring such pieces was Chief Engraver James B. Longacre, who preserved at least three prooflike specimens. Most were probably distributed to the general public, for interest in the California Gold Rush was extremely intense at that time, and news of treasure in the West dominated the newspapers. Any unsold coins were undoubtedly turned into circulation for face value, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of the examples known today show evidence of wear. The writer has never seen any publicity or outside notices, apart from government correspondence, pertaining to this early issue. (The correspondence quoted here is from "The 1848 Quarter Eagle With CAL," an article by Richard S. Yeoman (from a draft by Walter Breen, uncredited) in the July 1953 issue of The Numismatist, pp. 674-686.)
Design and Production
The CAL. counterstamp was applied to the reverse, directly above the eagle's head, of regular issue 1848 Liberty Head quarter eagles of the type that had been issued continuously since 1840. The basic design, featuring Miss Liberty with braided hair on the obverse, with stars surrounding and the date below, and on the reverse a perched eagle, had been created in the late 1830s by Christian Gobrecht, an assistant engraver at the Mint, who adapted motifs from elsewhere (see below).
The Liberty Head motif employed on the quarter eagle 1840-1907, also known as the Coronet type or the Braided Hair motif, was used elsewhere on United States coinage including on half cents 1840-1857, large cents 1839-1857, $5 gold 1839-1908, and $10 gold 1839-1907 and was inspired by the head of Venus in Benjamin West's Omnia Vincit Amor, 1839.
The perched eagle design used on the reverse of the quarter eagle was a popular 19th-century coin motif and in one form or another was used on many different designs and types since John Reich created it in 1807, but was most closely approximated by that appearing on contemporary $5 and $10 gold coins.
Apparently, no records survive concerning the actual production of the 1848 CAL. quarter eagle, apart from correspondence quoted above, which noted that the coins were ready by January 5,1849, and that a delay had occurred because of "the time required for stamping the letters CAL."
The question arises: How were the coins marked with the CAL. notation? The author examined photographs of 1848 CAL. quarter eagles as well as extant specimens, the latter of which were viewed under high magnification. It became obvious that each of the approximately 30 coins studied had the CAL. marking in nearly the same position (as determined by its relationship to the nearby letters and eagle motif). At the same time the author noted that one CAL. counterstamp was prominently double-struck and another was slightly double struck, although no design features on the reverse of the host coins were double struck. Another coin (from the Lindsay Collection), described by Walter Breen in his Encyclopedia, was triple struck.
The suggestion that CAL. was applied to each coin by hand using a hammer and counterstamp punch was discounted, for had this been the case, the CAL. notations would have been in noticeably different positions from coin to coin (as evident from the author's extensive studies of various counterstamps on other American coins of the 19th century, of which examples are numerous). Further, the pressure of counterstamping the reverse of a regular 1848 quarter eagle would have caused the corresponding part of the obverse to become flattened or slightly distended. Yet the coins had been counter-stamped in some manner because, if the CAL. notation had been part of the reverse die used during the coining process, it would not have been possible for the CAL. letters to be slightly doubled on some impressions without doubling the other features on the coin.
The author concluded that to produce the typical 1848 CAL. quarter eagle, an already-minted 1848 quarter eagle of the regular type was carefully placed on an 1848 obverse die, taken out of the press, to cushion the blow, and by means of a jig to assure consistent placement of the logo-type, a counterstamp punch with CAL. was impressed carefully on each coin. This would have been the "stamping the letters CAL." mentioned in the previously-quoted Mint correspondence.
In a letter to the author, Walter Breen commented: "I theorize that the obverse die was taken out of press after this batch was struck, then fixed on an anvil, face up. In this position each coin was placed face down atop the die so that it fit, then given one or two blows with the logotype. Had the quarter eagles been positioned on a brass plate, let alone anything harder, they would almost certainly have shown some flattening."
Collecting 1848 CAL. Quarter Eagles
As the 1848 CAL. quarter eagle is not listed in the commemorative section of standard coin reference books (but is listed among date and mintmark varieties of regular quarter eagles), it has not attracted much attention on the part of commemorative specialists. Indeed the issue is not even mentioned in standard texts on commemorative coins. As a result the 1848 CAL., although hardly inexpensive, is priced at a much lower level than would otherwise be the case.
Probably close to 200 examples of the 1848 CAL. quarter eagle survive from the original estimated mintage of 1,389 coins. Nearly all show signs of wear, although probably at least two or three dozen Mint State examples survive. Several of these were at one time called Proofs by numismatists, but examination of one of these pieces by the author revealed that it was a prooflike Mint State specimen. The typical specimen encountered today is apt to be in the EF-40 to AU-50 range.