I found this information at the Salt Lake Tribune at http://www.sltrib.com
Spanish Doubloons & Mormon Gold
Mormon Coins Supplant The Bartering System
Hal Schindler
Published: 03/26/1995 Category: Features Page: J1
With 10,000 or so Mormons populating the Great Salt Lake Valley and neighboring settlements by summer of 1849 and with more on the road, the need for some sort of hard cash in the economy was acute. The barter system had worked for a while, but as more members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints heeded the call to gather in their new mountain home, the principle of "What have you?" and "What do you need?" began to wear thin.
According to historian J. Cecil Alter, Brigham Young, while sojourning in Winter Quarters that first winter, remembered how the boys in the valley were wearing out their pockets reaching for money they did not have and brought with him on his return in September 1848 about $84 in small change. But in a burgeoning population, that was chicken feed and disappeared in the crowd as if it had never been.
An effort was made in December 1848 to circulate paper money, using handwritten scrip signed by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball with Thomas Bullock, clerk, as a countersignee. The scrip was issued in $1 and $5 denominations backed by gold dust, which was prevalent in the valley, but awkward and inexact in common use. (A pinch of dust varied from thumb to thumb.) After several other attempts, including the re-issue of Kirtland Safety Society anti-Banking notes from the church's failed venture in organizing an Ohio bank, Brigham gave up on paper currency. What was needed was coin.
The first solid money showed up in Great Salt Lake Valley in December 1847 after Young had left for Winter Quarters to prepare the rest of the Saints for the journey to Utah the following spring. Captain James Brown had ridden into the valley from San Francisco, his saddlebags heavy with Spanish doubloons--back pay owed the Pueblo Detachment of the Mormon Battalion.
The precise sum is a matter of debate, church records have it ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. But whatever the amount, the doubloons, probably coins of 8-escudo denomination ($20 U.S. value), had been paid by the U.S. Army paymaster to Brown, who held powers of attorney from the Pueblo veterans. Depending on the sum involved, Brown would have had from 250 to 500 of the Spanish coins in his pouches.
These gold escudos (worth today on the numismatic market about $500 in good condition) were readily accepted by Americans. With approval of the Mormon High Council in Brigham's absence, Brown spent $2,000 to buy Fort Buenaventura from Miles Goodyear; the balance is said to have gone to Battalion members. Still, the reluctance of travelers to accept Mormon scrip or Kirtland Bank notes as legitimate money continued to be a problem.
As J. Cecil Alter explained it, "To those who knew the sound of his voice, Brigham Young's signature made the new money legal tender by common consent." But with transients, who from 1849 became an important segment of the population--at least in summer--it was a different matter entirely. They were moving onward and would carry the money into a land that knew not Joseph Smith's successor, consequently immigrants not only paid out good money for what they bought, but demanded money they could use in California and Oregon in exchange for wagons, livestock, groceries, clothing, tools and implements they sold in the valley. And, Alter pointed out, that not only threatened depletion of the meager supply of U.S. money but of the gold dust deposits held in security as backing for the paper money issued.
It was imperative that a coin be struck that in itself was intrinsically worth the amount claimed on its face, which would be acceptable and usable by Mormon residents, Mormons abroad and by non-Mormons in Great Salt Lake City and elsewhere. With the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill early in 1848, gold dust was finding its way into the Mormon economy in increasing amounts. There are numerous cases of Mormons paying their church tithing in gold dust (at $15 an ounce). This "church treasure," as Alter describes it, was to be melted and rolled into strips from which coins could be stamped.
The extent to which Mormon authorities had concerned themselves with the situation is evident in a letter from Brigham Young to Thomas (Peg-Leg) Smith, who ran a trading post in the Bear River Valley. "[I] understand that you have a desire to dispose of your establishment, cattle, stock, &c. now in the Bear River Valley," Young wrote, "I send herewith Mr. Lewis Robison, a friend of mine, who is fully authorized to treat with and make suitable arrangements for pay, transfer of property, &c. Whatever arrangements he may make in regard to the pay, you may consider me responsible for the amount.
The coined money, I have now not on hand, but we are preparing to put the gold dust into coin without an alloy, which if you are disposed to take, you can have--but if you choose the American-coined money we can probably get it by the time you want it. If not, it will probably save me some little trouble." All that remained in the planning process was for Young to order the design of such coins and create the dies to stamp them with.
Part of that task took place November 25, 1848, when Brigham Young, with John Taylor and John M. Kay, sketched out the coin designs and decided upon inscriptions for them. Alfred B. Lambson forged the dies, the punches, tools and collars; Robert L. Campbell engraved the first stamps for the coins; a drop hammer was forged by Martin H. Peck, John Kay engraved the dies and minted the coins. William Clayton and Thomas Bullock acted as accountant and weigher, respectively.
Originally, the plan was to mint $2 1/2, $5, $10 and $20 gold pieces, and while this ultimately was done, the $10 coin was the first struck; with twenty-five minted the first day. The first design called for an obverse with the motto Holiness to the Lord and an emblem of the priesthood--a three-pointed Phrygian crown over an All-Seeing Eye of Jehovah. On the reverse, the $2 1/2, $5 and $20 coins were inscribed G.S.L.C. P.G. (Great Salt Lake City Pure Gold) over two clasped hands symbolizing friendship, then the value and the year date.
The $10 coin bore the words Pure Gold on its reverse, rather than the initialed phrase. This was altered in later coins so the obverse inscription would read Deseret Assay Office, Pure Gold and, at the base, 5 D. On the reverse side was a crouched lion, surrounded by Holiness to the Lord written in Deseret Alphabet characters, then the year 1860. The coins were .899 fine, with a bit of native silver, but no other alloy, for strength. Most of the coins bore the date 1849, but a great many were issued in 1850 and later.
With hard cash a reality, Daniel H. Wells and Thomas Bullock spent September 10, 1849, destroying the Mormon paper currency. "They tore up and burned between $3,000 and $4,000," according to church records. When the coins were first circulated in St. Louis by Salt Lake merchants who used them to pay for merchandise, the $20 were accepted at $18 because of the touch of silver alloy. In the valley, however, the coins went for face value.
But over the long account, the Mormon minters had the last laugh, because the numismatic value of these golden treasures are worth many fold what the Saints asked for them. (A $20 1849 Mormon gold piece, for example, is valued at between $25,000 and $50,000, according to Alvin Rust's Mormon and Utah Coin and Currency.)
The day of the Mormon coiners came to an effective close when the new San Francisco Mint went into operation in 1854, producing U.S. gold and silver hard money by the bagsful daily. The last Mormon gold was minted in 1860. See: Leonard J. Arrington, "Coin and Currency in Early Utah," and "Mormon Finance and the Utah War," in Utah Historical Quarterly 20 (January, and July 1952); and Harry F. Campbell, Campbell's Tokens of Utah, 3rd Edition (1987).
I found this information in the Utah.gov website:
Until the Civil War, the United States had no national currency, and most of the coins in circulation were privately minted. In order to provide a satisfactory circulating medium for the early settlers of Utah, Brigham Young and his associates in the LDS Church established a church mint in 1848, and also placed in circulation paper money backed by the treasury and officials of the LDS Church. Coins were minted in 1849, 1850, and 1860; currency with Brigham Young's signature was placed in circulation in 1848, 1850, and 1858.
The church mint, a small adobe building on the northeast corner of Brigham Street (South Temple) and Main, was made possible when members of the Mormon Battalion returned from California in the summer and fall of 1848, bringing gold dust earned in California after the discovery of gold there earlier that year. In addition, some twenty or more young Mormons were sent in 1849 and 1850 to California to prospect for gold. Although they were not particularly successful, they did send back or take back to Utah several thousand dollars worth of gold dust. Much of this ended up in the church treasury. In November 1848 Brigham Young commissioned John Kay to make dies and coin the gold dust. The inscription for the Deseret coins was designed by Brigham Young, John Taylor, and John Kay. On one side, the phrase "Holiness to the Lord" encircled the ancient emblem of priesthood, a three-point Phrygian crown over the all-seeing eye of Jehovah. On the other side, the words "Pure Gold" and the denomination encircled clasped hands, the emblem of friendship. The stamps for the coins were engraved by Robert Campbell, a young Scottish convert. Forty-six $10 gold pieces were coined before the crucibles were broken in late December. New crucibles could not be brought in from the Midwest until the following fall.
Recognizing the need for a temporary circulating medium superior to packets of gold dust, Brigham Young and his associates made plans to issue paper currency until coins could once more be minted. The first issue consisted of small bills, two inches wide and four inches long, hand-printed by pen and ink on plain white paper (there was not yet a printing press in the region). Bills were made for 50 cents, $1.00, $2.00, $3.00, and $5.00, and were signed by Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball (Brigham Young's counselor), and Newel K. Whitney, presiding bishop of the church. The bills were stamped with the seal of the Twelve Apostles, which consisted of the emblem of the priesthood encircled by sixteen letters: P.S.T.A. P.C.J.C.L.D.S. L.D.A.O.W., which was an abbreviation for "Private Seal of the Twelve Apostles, Priests of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Last Dispensation All Over the World." All of the 830 notes in the initial issue, with a face value of $1,365.00, bore the date January 2, 1849." A second issue of 735 separate bills with a face value of $1,217.50 was issued bearing the date of January 5, 1849. The church also had a supply of engraved Kirtland, Ohio, bank notes which bore the signatures of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and decided to reissue these with the additional signatures of Young, Kimball, and Whitney. Thomas Bullock, clerk of Brigham Young, also put a private mark on the bills to authenticate those issued against gold dust. Some 135 of these bills in $1.00 and $3.00 denominations were placed in circulation on 10 January 1849, and 256, mostly of the $5.00 denomination, were in circulation before fall, bearing a face value of $1,331.00. Later in January 1849, Truman Angell, church architect, made a press that could print paper currency. On 20 January 1849 a total of $3,329 bills in 50 cents, $1.00, $2.00, and $3.00 denominations were issued; these carried a face value of $5,529.50, and were modeled after the handwritten bills issued on 2 January. Feramorz Y. Fox, who studied the records of these issues, which are in the LDS Church Archives in Salt Lake City, found that these issues of currency were secured by an 80 percent reserve of gold. Most of the gold, in California-minted coins or dust, was paid in to the church as tithing. These gold-backed church treasury notes, or perhaps more accurately, warehouse receipts for gold dust, appear to have been a generally acceptable means of exchange in the Salt Lake Valley. When the church mint resumed coinage in the fall of 1849, the paper currency was redeemed, and most of it was destroyed. Of the original 5,150 notes, only 184 notes, valued at $269.00, were outstanding in May 1850.
Crucibles for minting were brought to the territory in September 1849, and the church mint was ready to resume operations. Dies were prepared for $2.50, $5.00, and $20.00 gold pieces to supplement the $10.00 dies made in late 1848. There was a slight change in the new design. The words "Pure Gold" were represented by the initials P.G. and the letters G.S.L.C. (for Great Salt Lake City) were added. The new coinage began in September 1849 and continued into 1851. Approximately $70,000 in gold pieces, mostly in the lower denominations, were coined, some on church account, but mostly on private account. The coins were at first minted without any alloy, but later a small percentage of silver was added to increase hardness.
The edge was not milled. The coins were accepted for full value in the Salt Lake Valley, but most of them went east to buy machinery and equipment and other needed commodities not available in "Deseret." With the discontinuance of new supplies of gold dust, the press and stamp were sold to John and Enoch Reese, of Carson Valley, Nevada, who minted coins from Nevada gold dust for a brief period. The dies were destroyed in the early 1850s.
In 1860 approximately $1,000.00 in $5.00 gold coins were produced at the church mint. The design was much prettier and more artistic than the 1849-51 coins. On its face the coin had a crouching lion in the center with three mountain peaks in the background and a small stretch of water in the foreground. Around the rim was "1860 Holiness to the Lord." The phrase "Holiness to the Lord" was written in characters of the Deseret Alphabet. The reverse side had an eagle with outstretched wings and a beehive on its breast and an olive branch and arrows in its talons. It closely resembled the United States $5.00 gold piece of the time. Around the edge was "Deseret Assay Office, pure gold 5 D."
The territorial governor, Alfred Cumming, disapproved of this issue and issued an order in 1861 prohibiting further coinage. A congressional act of 8 June 1864 permanently forbade the private coinage of gold.
There was one other issue of local currency. In January 1858, when troops of the United States Army ("Johnston's Army") were en route to Utah, Brigham Young and his associates were certain that the army intended to conquer the Saints. For that reason they determined to outfit a large defensive force to hold off the troops at Echo Canyon, and the settlers abandoned their homes in northern Utah in order to avoid any conflict. Cost of the defense was met by the issue of approximately $100,000 of "Deseret Currency" in denominations of $1.00, $2.00, $300, $5.00, $10.00, and $20.00. Most of these notes were personally signed by Brigham Young and his secretary Hiram B. Clawson. Not having sufficient gold to serve as backing, the church made the currency redeemable in livestock--horses, cattle, and sheep--of which it had large herds. The church expected to issue engraved notes, but pending their completion, $3,750.00 in "defense" notes were printed by the Deseret News and issued immediately. These were printed from 19 February to 17 March 1858. They followed by a "Move South" series consisting of $40,146.00 in printed notes issued from 31 March to 17 July 1858.
Engraved currency was ready in September 1858, and during the next month 8,512 engraved notes were issued, bearing a face value of $16,512.00. These notes represented the first copperplate printing done in the West and were elegant. As described by U.S. Treasury investigator Marcus E. Jones, on one end was an Indian with bow and arrows, or a gun (in the $3.00 bill); on the other end was a hunter in various attitudes. Between the hunter and Indian was a beehive. The $1.00 bill had, in addition, a group of livestock in the center. The $2.00 bill had the picture of a man plowing with a yoke of oxen, and a range of mountains in the background. The $3.00 bill had a sheep-shearing scene and two women milking cows, one on either side of the scene. The $5.00 note pictured a group of farmers harvesting wheat, with a bust of George Washington on the right side and an American eagle just below it. The wording on the $3.00 bill was "Deseret Currency Association will pay the bearer $3.00 in livestock on presentation of $100"; that is, the Currency Association, Brigham Young, president, would redeem the bills in livestock at going prices. The back side of the thin paper bills was blank.
All of the 1858 notes presented were redeemed by July 1859. Some of the currency was redeemed with horses and "horned stock," and some of it was contributed as tithing. In 1862, the books of the Deseret Currency Association were closed. In January 1864, as part of the Civil War, the United States outlawed the issuance or circulation of any currency or substitute for money by private firms or associations. Shortly thereafter, all remaining notes held by the Deseret Currency Association were burned and the dies destroyed.
I haven't found much real value in the paper currency as most common sets in G-VG condition are valued at only $225 +/- from dealers which might translate into even less value from a private party. Here is a list of some high end notes that I found:
The names of these paper money is:
The Kirtland $100 Notes - value $11,000
On 2 November 1836 the Kirtland Safety Society Bank was organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. as cashier and Sidney Rigdon as president. The Ohio legislature had denied the charter. As a substitute, on 2 Jan 1837 the Mormon leaders organized the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company. All of the Bank notes were issued by authority of the Anti-Banking Co. They were issued in denominations of $1, $2, $3, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. Most of Joseph Smith, Jr.'s signatures are proxy signatures.
The highest Mormon Church officials gathered in January 1849 to finalize and circulate the most historic paper currency in their history. Using Kirtland Safety Society Bank notes that were emitted in Ohio twelve years earlier, the notes were countersigned by the group for use in Salt Lake City and redeemable in gold. Placing their signatures on these notes were N.K. Whitney, Brigham Young, and Heber C, Kimball. Also penned on the notes are the “TB” mark of Thomas Bullock.
Bank of Monroe
Nauvoo Material
Valley or White Notes - $1 unc. value $1,850 $3 AU value $2,250
On 20 January 1849 Church leaders issued printed valley notes to ease the tedious task of handwriting. The printed notes were backed 80 percent by the gold dust in the treasury, as were the handwritten valley notes and the countersigned and reissued Kirtland Safety Society notes. Truman 0. Angell, the Mormon Church architect, made the type and designed and made the press. Brigham Young and Thomas Bullock set the type. Brigham H. Young, nephew of the Church President, operated the press. (This was the first printing done in Utah Territory.) All of the printed valley notes were uniface and printed on perforated white paper with light blue lines. The printed valley notes were stamped with the official seal of the Twelve Apostles, which consisted of the emblem of the priesthood: a three-pointed Phrygian crown over an all-seeing eye. Encircling the emblem were the following sixteen initials: PSTAPCJCLDSLDATW (Private Seal of the Twelve Apostles, Priests of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Last Dispensation, All Over the World). The seal had been designed by Brigham Young and John Taylor on 23 January 1845 in Nauvoo, Illinois. The single issue of the printed valley notes consisted of denominations of 50¢, $1,$2, and $3, dated 20 January 1849. They were actually issued intermittently from 30 January 1849 through 10 April 1849.
Deseret Currency - $2 value $7,250
The Deseret Currency Association was unique in that its notes were backed by livestock. Land or real estate could not be used to back the notes as the United States did not recognize land titles in Utah Territory until 1869. The Deseret Currency Association provided another local circulating medium of exchange and justifiably could be regarded as Utah's first banking institution.
Great Salt Lake City Corp - $.25cent $575 $.50cent $1,375
Because there was still a lack of medium of exchange in Great Salt Lake City in 1864, Great Salt Lake City Corporation began issuing notes in denominations of 25¢, 50¢, $1, and $2, payable in U.S. Legal tender notes or U.S. Coin. There is a variation in the $1 notes in that one shows Great Salt Lake City Corporation, and the other shows simply Salt Lake City Corporation. In 1868 the Great Salt Lake City Corporation council dropped the word Great from its title. Thereafter, the city was referred to as Salt Lake City rather than Great Salt Lake City. (Rust pp 96 - 102)
Bishop's & General Tithing - $.10cent blue canceled $150-$250 $.10cent meat or produce in G4 w/ or w/out overstamp is about $275
Because of a lack of cash in the valley in the first few years, much of the tithing was donated in kind. The General Tithing Storehouse, established in Great Salt Lake City in 1850, distributed the donated merchandise. In addition to storing the donated goods, the storehouse served somewhat like a retail store, except that most of the goods were exchanged rather than sold. People could bring in their excess items and exchange them for other items they needed. Workers on church projects were given credit for their labor and could draw provisions. The Church issued tithing scrip in denominations of 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1. This tithing scrip was payable in kind and was a convenient method of distributing produce and meat from the storehouse. (Rust pp. 164 - 172)
Co-op Material - $.01, .05, .15, .25cent up to fine condition about $100 These are called Scipio bills either signed or unsigned
Shortly after they arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young sent many of the pioneers to outlying districts to establish communities. Each settlement was usually small and had one store or Co-op to supply its needs. The purpose of a co-op was to allow the people to buy goods at a cheaper price, make it convenient to purchase these goods. The outlying communities lacked a medium of exchange, so scrip was issued to stimulate trade.
Utah National Bank Notes average values
This is one of six notes in the census for this charter number. This early Salt Lake City bank was opened for business only from 1872 to 1876. A rare addition for the collector interested in owning a Utah territorial note.
SLC National Bank $1 Note VG $9500
1902 Ogden $20 Note F-VF $375
1902 Salt Lake $5 Note F-VF $275
Drovers Bank Set - $1, $2 or $3 value about $3500
or the $1 note about $400 by itself in fair condition
or the $1 note in VF condition $1150
Bank Checks from the Gold Mountain Consolidated Mining Co., in VG-F condition are about $95
The Gold Mountain Consolidated Co. check is marked "Pay to Bearer." This would allow the holder of the check to conduct business with anyone with confidence in the company check, without having to make a trip to the bank to conduct a transaction. A trip to the bank would have been more than 30 miles from Kimberly where the mine was located. Gold Mountain Consolidated Mining Co. was closed in 1910.
1929 Ogden $10 Note VG $95
1929 Salt Lake $20 Note F $120
1929 Salt Lake $50 Note VG $350
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