1851 G$20 Baldwin, K-5 MS

The Baldwin & Co. twenty-dollar piece was the first of that denomination issued in California. Baldwin coins are believed to have contained about 2% copper alloy. Although five Baldwin $20s are known, two examples are impounded (one in the Smithsonian Institution, and the other in the collection assembled by the Bank of California), and another was stolen from Willis Dupont in 1967 and has not been recovered. The two remaining examples grade choice XF and choice AU.

Obverse Description

Liberty Head with BALDWIN & Co. on diadem, 1851, 13 stars around.

Reverse Description

Federal eagle S.M.V. CALIFORNIA GOLD. TWENTY D.