Learn About Miner’s Bank Gold Coins
On August 7, 1849, Wright & Co. petitioned the Collector of the Port of San Francisco for permission to issue $5 and $10 gold coins, offering to post performance bonds and asserting that their coins would equal the intrinsic value of United States Mint issues. The proposal was denied, reflecting growing official concern over the quality and reliability of private gold coinage.
Wright & Co., Exchange Brokers was in full operation by early September 1849. In November, the firm reorganized as a banking institution under the name Miners’ Bank. The partners included Stephen A. Wright, John Thompson, Samuel W. Haight, and J.C.L. Wadsworth. Evidence indicates that Miners’ Bank struck $10 gold coins in the autumn of 1849, likely before the formal banking partnership was fully established.
The Miner’s Bank was one of the first companies to strike private gold coinage for California in 1849. Operating in San Francisco, the Miner’s Bank issued private gold coins intended to facilitate trade at a time when official United States coinage was largely unavailable in California. The institution represents one of the earliest attempts to establish a financial structure and monetary stability in the chaotic, rapidly expanding gold-rush economy. So, the Miner’s Bank accepted miners’ gold and arranged for its assessment and striking into private $10 gold pieces for local circulation.
The coins were likely struck using locally available equipment, possibly at facilities such as those operated by assay firms working for the bank. Also, there were recorded die and planchet issues with the 1849 Miner’s Bank $10 Gold Eagle Coin, which are typical of early California private gold issues. However, the $10 Gold Eagles were assayed to only have a fineness of .866 when a minimum of .900 was to be sought, as that was the fineness for all federal gold coinage. Once the fineness of gold became widely known in California, gold coins could be traded only at a discount of up to 20%. Due to the discount, many of the Miner’s Bank coins were melted to be refined at a higher and more acceptable fineness.
Because they fell out of favor and were often melted, Miners’ Bank gold pieces disappeared from circulation, and many surviving examples are today valued by collectors. The Miner’s Bank ceased operations by early 1850, less than a year after its private coinage was issued.
1849 Miner’s Bank $10 Gold Eagle Coin
On the obverse of the coins, there is an American eagle with upraised wings. The eagle very much looks like one of its federal counterparts. There is a shield on the breast, and the eagle is holding three arrows in its left talon and an olive branch on its right. Above the eagle is the word “CALIFORNIA” and around the rest of the periphery are thirteen five-pointed stars.
The reverse of this coin has the denomination “TEN. D.” with “MINERS. BANK.” at the top of the periphery and “SAN FRANCISCO” at the bottom of the periphery.
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