1860 Denver City Five Dollar - Obverse Copper Assay

Coin Details

Description

The 1860 Denver City Gold Five Dollar obverse copper assay piece is a uniface or obverse-only trial striking from the Denver City Assay Office. The "Obv" designation indicates this piece was struck from the obverse die only, without a corresponding reverse impression, making it a particularly interesting piece of frontier minting history. Uniface trial strikings were common practice in nineteenth-century die preparation, as they allowed the die sinker to evaluate the quality of each die independently before pairing them for full two-sided strikings. The obverse-only nature of this piece indicates it was produced during the die testing phase. This uniface copper assay piece provides unique insight into the technical preparation that went into the Denver City Assay Office's coining operations. Even frontier mints followed established die-testing protocols inherited from centuries of coining tradition.

Rarity Notes

Extremely rare. Uniface copper assay trials from Denver City are among the rarest Colorado territorial pieces.

Cross References

NGC #31323