1877 $50 Smithsonian Half Union Barber Gold Commemorative 2pc Set NGC PR70 w/box & COA

The Half Union $50 gold piece was a concept that originally was promoted during the heady days of the California Gold Rush. Gold dust was ubiquitous in the California of the late 1840s-1850s, but coins, which were needed by bankers, businesses, and consumers alike, were scarce. Filling the void were several private mints and the U.S. Assay Office (which later became the first San Francisco Mint). Among the gold coins produced by such private mints were massive $50 gold pieces, which came to be called “slugs.”

This set includes two gold ½ ounce 50 mm gold replicas of the original 1877 Half Union pattern housed at the Smithsonian. This is a private issue that was struck in 2017, and both coins have been graded as NGC PF 70 Ultra Cameo.

Original 1877 Pattern $50 Half Union (J-1546). Photo courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

Those big coins circulated widely and were favored by bankers in a region that despised paper money. Those “slugs” made it easier for bankers to manage their accounts. After the San Francisco Mint opened its doors in 1854, Western bankers petitioned the government to make the $50 denomination part of the Federal coinage. In fact, Treasury Secretary James Guthrie advised Congress to authorize the minting of $100 gold coins, to be called “Unions”; $50 coins called “Half Unions”; and, lastly, $25 gold coins which would be called “Quarter Unions.”

The bill passed in the Senate on June 16, 1854 but died in the House. It was 25 years later, in 1877, that Chief Mint Engraver William Barber cut the dies for a pair of $50 Half Union patterns. Those patterns featured a Coronet Liberty head on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. The two patterns were identical except for the size of Miss Liberty upon the obverse. It was theorized by author Don Taxay that Mint Director H.R. Linderman, who was a numismatist, ordered the coins for his personal collection.