Mormon Gold (Utah) (1849-1860)

About This Series

Produced under the authority of Brigham Young and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon gold coins served the isolated Utah Territory when Salt Lake City lay hundreds of miles from the nearest government mint. Denominations of $2.50, $5, $10, and $20 were struck beginning in 1849, using gold dust brought by returning Mormon Battalion members from California diggings. The obverse designs feature distinctive imagery — the All-Seeing Eye of God and HOLINESS TO THE LORD — while the reverse displays clasped hands symbolizing fraternity. The coins circulated locally until questions arose about gold content, as assays revealed some contained less pure gold than their face value implied, leading to discounting and controversy. Nevertheless, these territorial issues filled a genuine monetary need in a community valuing economic self-sufficiency as a religious principle. The coins document a unique chapter where religious authority, territorial governance, and private enterprise converged to create a coinage system serving both practical commerce and theological symbolism.