A Choice VF-35 PCGS-certified 1855 Wass, Molitor & Co. $20 with the Small Head style, Kagin-7, will be up for bids in our official auction sale with the Professional Numismatists Guild this upcoming October in New York City. For the first time ever, the PNG is hosting a combined auction and convention, and Stack’s Bowers Galleries is pleased to be a part of this prestigious event. The 1855 Wass, Molitor & Co. $20 in the sale features warm honey-gold surfaces that deepen to golden-red in the protected areas. Rated Rarity-5+ by today’s collecting community, this elusive issue was struck by Wass, Molitor & Co., a firm founded by two Hungarian expatriates who operated in San Francisco 1852 through 1855. The company minted $5, $10, $20, and $50 gold coins, with the $5 pieces all struck in 1852, the $10 pieces dated 1852 and 1855, and with the $20 and $50 pieces dated 1855. All of the firm’s gold coinage is at least scarce, and many of the varieties are rare. Indeed, the Large Head variety $20 of 1855 is one of the great rarities in the territorial or private gold series, with perhaps just a half dozen or so pieces known. Fortunately for today’s collectors, the Small Head $20s of 1855 are available, and though not as rare as the Large Head type, they are still elusive enough that when a Choice VF examples comes up for auction, specialists in the series take notice. Overall, Wass, Molitor & Co. Small Head $20s are highly elusive and never fail to elicit bold bidding activity, so please plan your bidding strategy now.
