The Dubosq family, Theodore Dubosq, Sr., Theodore Dubosq, Jr. and Henry A. Dubosq arrived in San Francisco on May 18, 1849. An article in the Alta California, May 31st, 1849 indicated that Dubosq Sr., a jeweler from Philadelphia arrived on the ship Grey Eagle with the necessary machinery for striking private coins.
The thought has been propounded that the dies for the 1850 coinage were made by J.B. Longacre. The similarity in style of the federal coinage designed by him and the fact that Dubosq came from Philadelphia gives it great credence. However, the “roughness” of style and execution really indicates dies that were created in a more primitive environment with equipment not as fine as that available in Philadelphia. Therefore, we attribute the work to Albert Kuner.
There are no gold coins known dated 1849, only patterns or trial pieces in “off’ metal. However there exists the possibility that they were struck. In 1850, Dubosq formed a partnership with a Mr. Goodwin (first name unknown) to establish a mint to strike gold coins. One of the more curious aspects of the T. Dubosq (1849), Dubosq & Co. 1850 coinages is that, as mentioned earlier, there are no known gold coins dated 1849, and the first report of coins having been struck is in the quarterly report of Alta California, where they indicate that Dubosq & Co. struck $150,000 in coin (probably 10,000 each of the $5.00 and $10.00) and that covered the period January 1st to March 31st, 1851. But no gold coins or patterns are known dated 1851.
Dubosq & Co. was a highly respected house, because their coins assayed $9.93 for an eagle and $4.96 for a half eagle. Only few of the private companies had comparable assay reports. In fact, the Dubosq & Co. coins were held at par by the Mint Assayers at Philadelphia, who sustained the contention that the Dubosq coins were worth their stamped value. Although the firm struck quite a large number of coins it seems as if virtually all were melted. To the best of our knowledge there are only six specimens extant of the eagle and two of the half eagle.
