Q.David Bowers
Following the opening of the San Francisco Mint production at the government facility was quite limited. Kellogg & Co. therefore did a large business by continuing their private coinage. Toward the end of 1854 the firm of Kellogg & Richter was dissolved and a new firm, Kellogg & Humbert, took its place, with Augustus Humbert, formerly the United States Assayer, joining. This partnership continued until 1860, although the last coins were struck in 1855.
On May 1, 1855 Alta California noted Kellogg & Co. was producing a quantity of coins vastly greater than the United States Mint in the same city. It noted that about $1.5 million was the largest coinage per month from the mint, whereas Kellogg & Co. for many weeks made from $60,000 to $80,000 worth of coins per day.
Adams noted that Kellogg & Co. was credited with having produced $6 million worth of $20 gold pieces during its time, and that a large number of these were lost "by the sinking of a steamer in the Pacific on its way from San Francisco to New York."
The most impressive Kellogg & Co. piece is a large $50 coin, of round shape, bearing on the obverse the head of Liberty, with a Kellogg inscription, and on the reverse a standing eagle. Adams noted that:
This represents one of the handsomest pieces of die cutting in the entire California series. No information concerning this Kellogg $50 piece seems to be attainable. It is quite certain, however, that it was issued at the same time as the Wass, Molitor & Co. pieces of the same value, and like the latter, owes its origin to the demand of San Francisco merchants for gold pieces of larger denominations for quick counting purposes.
Coins in San Francisco 1854-1856
By the time the 1855 Wass, Molitor & Co. and Kellogg & Co. $50 pieces were made, coins of this denomination were no longer seen in the channels of commerce. Octagonal $50 slugs of the United States Assay Office of Gold, last made with the 1852 date, had been exported or melted for conversion into smaller denominations. By the spring of 1854 they were not to be seen.
A request was sent to Congress that the San Francisco Mint be allowed to make $50 gold pieces, similar to the $20 double eagle in design, and circular in format. The San Francisco Herald on March 1, 1854, commented on this petition:
A petition has been circulated today, and very generally signed, addressed to the Congress of the United States, calling attention to the coinage that is to be made at the Branch Mint in San Francisco, and praying that a law may be passed authorizing the issue of Fifty Dollar pieces of the same shape and fineness as the United States Double Eagle. It will of course be signed by every businessman in the community, the advantages of such an issue being self-evident. In a country like our own, where the currency is purely metallic, it is of great importance to have coins issued of a size which will admit of rapid and easy counting, both in receiving and paying money; the experience of our businessmen goes to show that in the absence of bank notes the Fifty Dollar piece is the most convenient coin for such purpose. The alteration in shape, and putting the coin up to the United States standard, would make it all that could be desired. If such a coin could be issued, it would in all probability speedily reduce the premium on ounces for East India shipments.
The petition was sent to Sen. William W. Gwin, a California representative in Congress. Gwin in turn sent it to James Guthrie, secretary of the Treasury, who replied favorably on March 21, 1854:
I have duly considered the Memorial which you placed in my hand this morning, of merchants and bankers of San Francisco, Cal., praying Congress to authorize the coinage at the Branch Mint at that place of gold-pieces of the denomination of Fifty Dollars. Upon the subject matter of this memorial, you desire my opinion, and I have therefore the honor to say that in the present condition of California, as it respects its currency, the measure recommended in my opinion would be judicious and proper.
The large denominations of gold coinage are not found to be adapted to circulation in the Atlantic states. It is found that few of the Twenty Dollar pieces, and not a great many of the Tens, remain in private hands, but are soon passed into the possession of the banks and bankers, and their places supplied by bank paper. The larger pieces are also more convenient for transportation, and being thus carried to the South and West, prevent the transit of the smaller coins which would, if transmitted, remain in permanent circulation amongst the people of those sections of the country. For these and other reasons it appears to me to be desirable to increase the coinage of the smaller denominations, and to diminish the larger for circulation on this side of the Union, and the increased capacity of the Treasury for coinage, arising from the establishment of the Branch Mint at San Francisco and of the Assay Office at New York, will enable us to carry this view into effect.
But there are peculiarities in the condition of California which recommend a different skill of coinage in that region. These are: First, the fact stated in the Memorial, of the pro-hibition and entire exclusion of paper money; and, second, the high scale of prices prevalent in California for commodities and services. These circumstances will make larger denominations of coin convenient, particularly in counting and passing large sums. To this may be added that time which will be saved in coining, which may be of much con-sequence to miners and others, at least until the capacity of the Branch Mint shall be ascertained to be equal to the gold offered.
In order to harmonize the proposed large coins with the present recognized coins I would recommend that the coinage be authorized to pieces of $100 and $50 and $25, to be called " Union," "Half Union," and" Quarter Union" but that the "Half Union" only be struck for the present.
This proposal went to the Committee on Finance.
Acting on Guthrie's recomendation, Sen. Gwin presented a bill for the coinage of $100 and $50 pieces which read in part:
That there may be coined and issued by the United States, or by such of the Branch Mints as the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct, gold coin of the weight of 2,580 grains of the value of One Hundred Dollars; and another of the weight of 1290 grains, of the value of Fifty Dollars, each of which coin shall be of the standard fineness now prescribed by law for the gold coins of the United States.
That the Secretary of the Treasury cause the necessary dies and other apparatus to be prepared by proper and skillful artists, under the superintendence of the Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, for coining the above coins, with such devices, motto, and figures as may be approved by the President of the United States, the expenses of which shall be defrayed from the ordinary appropriation for the expenses of the Mint and Branch Mints of the United States ...