BG- 799C, 1876 California Fractional Gold 25C, Indian Octagonal NGC MS65DPL

This beautiful Deep Prooflike example was produced by Christopher Ferdinand Mohrig, a German-born San Francisco jeweler. The obverse displays a stunning Indian head design upon a miniature golden treasure. Thirteen stars surround the Indian head and the date 1876 is found below. The reverse presents an attractive wreath, within which is found ‘1/4 DOLLAR.’ It was on August 10, 1876, that Mohrig was arrested by the Secret Service for being in violation of the 1864 law against private coinage. His stock and dies were seized and melted, which may explain the rarity of his varieties such as this one. NGC has graded 1 piece as MS65DPL with just 1 finer.

The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, in 1876, the year this variety was struck. Image: Wikipedia.