The safest way for prospectors to cash in their raw gold was to have it converted to official US coins. But that involved sending their treasure to a US mint, often hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. It was risky, time-consuming and expensive.
Sometimes, if the demand was high enough and political winds blew in their favor, they could convince Congress to set up a branch mint nearby. In the west, that led to the opening of mints in San Francisco and later in Carson City, Nevada. But for miners in the somewhat inaccurately named Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1858-1861, those facilities didn’t solve their problem. The formidable passage across the Rocky Mountains or to the central mint in Philadelphia led enterprising bankers, assayers, and speculators to set up facilities nearby to coin “Pike’s Peak Gold,” the generic name for gold from Colorado.
Gold Camps Become Cities and Coining Begins
As gold camps in places like Central City, Georgetown, Cripple Creek, and Idaho Falls grew, the gathering and supply point for them was Denver City, a bustling settlement at the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek. Assay offices and banks began to open, followed shortly by private firms offering to refine and coin the miners’ ore. The largest and most prominent of them was Clark, Gruber & Company, a Leavenworth, Kansas banking, assay and brokerage company that opened a branch in in Denver City and that eventually became the Denver Mint.
Clark, Gruber & Co.
In 1860, Clark, Gruber & Co. began striking gold coins in the basement of their bank building to match the US denominations of the era. An estimated $120,000 worth of gold coins were minted in the first four months of production. The facility remained in operation through 1862 although all of its coins are dated 1860 and 1861. Roughly $600,000 worth of gold coins were eventually struck before the minting operation was purchased by the federal government with the promise of opening a local mint.
Some Clark Gruber designs were similar to official US coins except that the company name replaced “Liberty” on Lady Liberty’s crown and “Pike’s Peak Gold” substituted for “United States of America” on the reverse of $2.50 and $5 pieces.
The $10, and $20 pieces, though, had unique artwork. Liberty was exiled from the face of the coin in favor of a stylized rendering of a mountain with the label “Pike’s Peak Gold” above it and “Denver” below the mountain with the denomination at the bottom. The reverse carried a US heraldic eagle surrounded by “Clark Gruber & Co” and the date on the bottom.
In 1861 Miss Liberty returned to the face of the $10 and $20 coins, but her crown now read “Pike’s Peak” and the company name moved to the back along with the word “Denver” and surrounded the heraldic eagle. The eagle was the same on the $10 coin but a more elaborate rendition appeared on the $20 piece.
A Promise Not Soon Fulfilled
By 1862 Colorado gold production had reached 1.25 million ounces and its mining, along with silver and other ores, became a major industry in the state. This got the attention of Congress and in 1863 the minting operation was sold to the US government with the promise of opening an official mint in Denver. But with lawlessness rampant in the city and the Civil War raging, the plan was shelved in favor of a US assay office. The opening of the Denver US Mint was delayed until 1906 and was built at a different site. The bank moved to a new location and was given a national charter in 1865 as the First National Bank of Denver. It continued operation until 1982 when a series of mergers led to its current existence as Wells Fargo Bank. The original building was torn down, but a plaque marks its location on present-day Market Street north of 16th Street in downtown Denver.
Other Private Mints in Colorado
When gold was discovered in 1859 in the South Park area 150 miles southwest of Denver thousands of miners rushed to now-abandoned settlements like Tarryall and Hamilton. Hot on their heels was an Illinois physician and metallurgist named Dr. John Parsons. He ordered mining equipment and dies after arriving and began processing gold ingots in 1860. The Rocky Mountain News reported that Parsons was setting up minting operations in Hamilton in the summer of 1861.
Parsons began striking $2.50 and $5 coins in late June, possibly on a press located on the back of a wagon. The coins, probably designed by Parsons himself, have a heraldic eagle on the obverse and are inscribed “Pikes Peak Gold” along with the denomination. The reverse shows what appears to be a quartz-crushing machine used for gold extraction with “J Parson & Co.” above it and the word “Oro” below. While “oro” is the Spanish word for gold, according to PCGS Coin Facts, it may also have referred to nearby Oro City, a mining settlement near present-day Leadville.
The “Parsons Mint” was out of operation by that October, around the time the local Phillips Lode played out.
A man of many talents, Dr. Parson relocated to Denver where he wrote a book about Colorado mining and became involved in several enterprises including an unfortunate aqueduct project as well as dairy farming and a boarding house for invalids. He died in Utah Territory in 1881.
Another Pike’s Peak gold coin was briefly made in Parkville in the Georgia Gulch area near present-day Breckinridge in 1861 by John J. Conway & Company, a banking and jewelry company that advertised it would coin the local miners’ gold. Its simple design included the inscription “J. J. Conway & Co.” and “Bankers” on the obverse with a circle of twelve stars in the center and “Pikes Peak” and the denomination on its reverse. But the Conway coins were poorly received when independent tests showed their weights and purity to vary. The operation lasted barely two of months and made only a handful of coins. Few if any originals remain, but the Confederacy evidently counterfeited the coin extensively during the Civil War. Restrikes of the coin exist, but only three of the originals are known to survive.
Collecting Colorado Gold Coins
Due to their small mintages and historical value, collecting Colorado gold coins is an expensive hobby. Although several Clark Gruber samples remain in Almost Uncirculated condition, even heavily worn coins bring thousands and Mint State specimens are very scarce commanding six-figure prices. For example, an 1860 $20 MS-60 Clark Gruber coin sold for $690,000 in 2006. But markets shift and today PCGS estimates it to have dropped to a more affordable $450,000.
Parsons and Conway coins are even scarcer and seldom come to market. But they bring top dollar when they do. An 1861 Parsons $2.50 graded AU-50 sold for $85,000 in 1979 and is valued by PCGS at $400,000 today. A Parsons VF-20 $5 coin brought $100,00, also in 1979, and is currently estimated at $300,00.
The only known $5 Conway coin sold at auction for $100,000 in 1979 and an MS-30 $10 coin brought $287,875 in 2016. Current estimates place the values at $400,000 or more.
While collecting Colorado gold coins may not be in your price range, just knowing about them shows the fascinating tales told by coin collecting.
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