Dunbar & Company (1851)

About This Coin

Among the rarest issuers in the California Gold series, Dunbar & Company operated briefly in 1851 during the Gold Rush, striking coins from native California gold of approximately .880 to .900 fineness. Edward Dunbar established his private minting operation in San Francisco when the nearest federal mint was thousands of miles away, and the flood of Sierra Nevada gold created overwhelming demand for coined money. Dunbar's coins — struck in gold on 22 mm planchets weighing approximately 8 grams with plain edges — served the same function as issues from better-known private minters like Moffat, Kellogg, and Wass, Molitor: converting raw gold dust and nuggets into standardized coins for everyday commerce. A notable auction result of $61K in EF40 at Stack's demonstrates the substantial premiums these exceedingly rare territorial gold pieces command. Dunbar & Company's extremely limited output and tiny survivor population place their coins among the most coveted California territorial pieces, tangible artifacts of the entrepreneurial minting industry filling the monetary vacuum before the San Francisco Mint opened in 1854.