Mormon Gold Coins — Gold coins ( tokens ) minted by order of the Council of Elders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“ Mormons ”) to compensate for a shortage of a working coin in Utah .
One of the factors that influenced the decision to issue its own coin was the influx of gold sand into the Salt Lake City from California mines brought by Mormon prospectors. Since part of the sand was irretrievably lost when used in daily trading operations, it was decided to transfer it to coins. The first Mormon gold coin was put into circulation on December 12, 1848; Until the end of this year, 48 coins were minted [1] . Coins were minted in 1849, 1850 and 1860 with face values of 2½, 5, 10 and 20 dollars. The design of the 5-dollar coin of 1860 is interesting in that the legend on the obverse is made with a special Mormon Deseretic alphabet [2] . On the back is an eagle in front of which is a bee hive, which is associated with the name of the unrecognized Mormon territory of Deseret , later reorganized into Utah : in the language of one of the peoples of the Book of Mormon, the word Deseret supposedly meant "honey bee."
In total, as expected, a gold coin worth about 70 thousand dollars was issued [1] . Coins were sold at a price slightly higher than face value. Although they rarely circulated, especially in other states, they were used as investment coins (which was more advantageous in comparison with the accumulation of gold mined in California and going to dealers for nothing during the California gold rush ).
To date, about 300 coins are known, not counting modern copies [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 The Gold Mormon Coin History . Gold Mormon Coins . Date of appeal September 30, 2018.
- ↑ Michael, 2015 , p. 1235.
Literature
- Michael T. Standard Catalog of World Coins 1801-1900. - 8th ed. - Iola: Krause Publications, 2015 .-- 1294 p. - ISBN 978-1-4402-4524-4 .