BG-1203, 1870 California Fractional Gold $1, Liberty Round NGC MS62 Prooflike R5-

Here’s a dramatic piece to add to your collection of California Fractional Gold coinage, via the jewelry firm of Robert B. Gray and Company of San Francisco. NGC has graded 1 as MS62PL with 3 finer. NGC has authenticated and graded only 5 examples of BG-1203 as Prooflike. Collectors Universe prices this variety at $4,600.00 in MS62PL.

A well-made Liberty head design, inspired by the federal gold Liberty Head coinage of the day, decorates the obverse. The distinctive 'G' mintmark for ‘Gray’ is found below the Liberty Head. The reverse presents ‘CALIFORNIA GOLD’ at the top near the rim, while inside a wreath with berries is ‘1 DOLLAR.’

Gray and Company was located at 616 Merchant Street. It was in either the year 1858 or 1859 that Gray purchased the business of another San Francisco jeweler and fractional gold maker, Antoine Louis Nouzillet, including all of his dies, hubs, and punches. The year after the BG-1203 was produced, in 1871, Gray sold his enterprise to the Levinson Brothers/California Jewelry Company. 

The Bank of California, the first commercial bank in the Western United States. Image: Wikimedia Commons.