The Happy Coin Blog

The Happy Coin was recently thrilled to come into possession of thrilling piece of American Frontier history.This gold piece, struck in standard 0.900 fine gold, predates the 1854-S $20 Liberty by a year, and represents a fascinating period in California in the heyday of the Gold Rush.  It all started at the United States Assay OfficeThe U.S. Assay Office was the forerunner of what would in 1854 become the San Francisco Mint, which began producing quarter eagles, half eagles, eagles, and do …

The folklore of the California Gold Rush is so ubiquitous and deeply embedded in our popular culture, even today, that it almost goes unnoticed. Who hasn’t heard of the NFL’s 49ers, but how many know that the nearly 300,000 prospectors who flocked to the area were first referred to as Argonauts? Or, that the strike, made at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California by a man named James Marshall, brought financial ruin to John Sutter who aspired to create a timber and ranching empire …