Rare $50 gold coin on display

CHENNAI: Visitors will be able to view a truly rare artefact at the Egmore Museum throughout this week, as part of the Museum's Weekly Exhibit Series. A $50 solid gold coin from 1852, the centerpiece this week, is among the rarest American coins in the world today. The story of the coin offers sharp perspective into the California of the Gold Rush years, when hordes of American and Spanish prospectors headed west following the discovery of gold there. While the practice of allowing tourists to retain what they prospect, continues to this day, few artefacts from those days remain. And this coin, in the possession of the Government Museum is a treasure indeed.It may seem even more invaluable to some, given the gold prices. The coin weighs roughly 2.5 troy ounces. That's a whopping 84.63 grams of 21.288 karat gold. While the gold of the coin would be worth `2,07,300 by Monday's exchange rate, the historical value of the colony is far higher. The 1852 coin was last valued at $500,000, thanks to the fact that the coins, which were minted by a private minter, Moffat & Co, between 1849 and 1854, were melted once the government mint opened in San Francisco in 1854. Very few have survived till today. It is notable that each of the coins were minted entirely by hand.“The Government Museum in Chennai has acquired the coin from the Government Museum in Pudukottai. It is understood that it could have come from the private collection of the kings of Pudukottai,” said N Sundararajan, Curator of the Numismatics Section. The coin is unique - it is an ingot, aka a slug, that were issued by assayers as a standard to the quality of gold. Today, governments around the world refer to them as bullion coins, and issue them from time to time.The obverse of the coin displays an eagle perched on top of a heraldic shield holding arrows in its claws and a tape in its beak, with the work 'liberty' engraved on it. The reverse does not have any engravings and displays the marks left by grinding.The numismatics section of the Egmore Museum usually displays its bronze and silver coin collections. It does not display the gold coins due to security reasons. Henceforth, this an opportunity to view the rare coins.