1849 Mormon Half Eagle - 1849 Mormon $5 NGC XF40. This crusty and beautiful 1849 Mormon Half Eagle is well struck on the center of the reverse. The eye has the full details of a piece that would grade AU58. While showing light, even wear and some abrasion marks, for the grade none is individually distracting. The surfaces are completely original. They show a mixture of yellow and greenish gold color with slightly darker toning towards the edge.

Brigham Young and John Kay, who had worked at a private mint in England, created the devices and inscriptions for the coin. It was engraved by Robert Campbell and Kay. The obverse shows the All-Seeing Eye below the three pointed Phrygian Crown, the emblem of Mormon priesthood. The inscription Holiness to the Lord is from the Old Testament and was originally intended for engraving on sacred jewels of the Hebrews. The reverse has clasped hands for friendship as its main device and G.S.L.C.P.G. meaning Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold. (It is interesting to note that none of the gold actually came from Salt Lake City. Until 1860 all bullion came from California. The 1860 bullion came from Colorado.). The date is below the clasped hands.

One of the richest gold discoveries during the time of the California Gold Rush was at Mormon Island, downstream from Sutters Mill on the American River. James Marshall and Sam Brannan were Mormon Forty-Niners who were involved in the actual discovery of gold. In 1848 Brigham Young decided to create a distinctive coinage for the Mormon Territory.

The first name of the Mormon Territory was the State of Deseret meaning the State of the Honeybee. Beginning in 1849, Mormon gold was minted in a small adobe building in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was actually the home of Dr. William Sharp. Brigham Young initiated the coinage and personally supervised the mint. Most Mormon gold coinage was light in weight and low in fineness. When they reached non-Mormon territories know as Gentile areas, the coins became objects of contempt as much as polygamy was. No doubt both contributed to federal opposition to the Mormons. Considering that most of their coins had a quite low fineness, it is ironic that their church sponsored issues were inscribed PURE GOLD. Because of its substandard weight and fineness, most of the early Mormon coinage was melted outside Mormon territory. Bankers accepted them with a twenty-five percent discount. To remedy this situation, Young ordered new coins for 1850. They were alloyed with silver and redesigned. However, by that time Mormon coinage had such a poor reputation, the new issues were not accepted and also wound up in the melting pot.

In 1854 the Board of Regents of the University of Deseret, which is now the University of Utah, adopted a phonetic alphabet. At the behest of President Brigham Young, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, George D. Watt developed this new phonetic alphabet to help simplify the spelling of English. Among other works, the entire Book of Mormon was published in Deseret in the 1860s. Despite being promoted by Young and used by the Deseret News, the new alphabet did not gain wide acceptance. It fell into disuse after his death in 1877.

In 1861, Governor Alfred Cumming, a Democrat appointed by President James Buchanan to replace Brigham Young, prohibited the use of Mormon gold despite the fact that the five dollar piece is reported to have net weight of one-third gram more gold than the Federal coinage of the time. Cumming served at the governor of the Territory of Utah from 1858 to 1861.

All Mormon gold coins are rare and sought by collectors and specialists. In their combined population reports the major grading services show for the 1849 1849 Mormon Half Eagle issues the following numbers: $2.50 44, $5.00 150, $10.00 4, $20.00 17. In its population report, NGC shows 3 1849 Mormon Half Eagles in XF40 with 37 better.