BG-1127, 1875 California Fractional Gold $1, Indian Octagonal PCGS MS64 R4

Here’s an attractive and popular variety in the extensive California Fractional Gold series that was struck by C.F. Mohrig. PCGS has graded 11 as MS64 with only 2 finer. It was on August 10, 1876, that Mohrig was arrested by the Secret Service for violating the 1864 law against private coinage. His stock and dies were seized and melted, which may explain the rarity of his varieties. An attractive Indian Head design graces the obverse. It is inspired by and derivative of the ubiquitous Indian Head cent design. The Indian Head is surrounded by 13 stars. The reverse has CALIFORNIA GOLD above a wreath near the rim. Within an intricate wreath is found 1 DOLLAR.

The Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1875, the year this variety was struck by C.F. Mohrig. Image: Wikipedia.

Don Kagin, the author of Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States (1981), explains how these coins were minted:

Most of the fractional coins were made by the hammer method .... This was a process of striking where the bottom die was placed on a block, a coin blank was laid upon it, and the top die upon the blank; this top die was then struck by a sledgehammer. Blows of varying intensity would cause potions of one side or edge to be more weakly struck than another.