By CoinWeek Staff Reports …..
On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, the finest of three presently accounted for 1849 Pacific Company $5 gold coins sold for $1.26 million, setting a new record for the famously rare California private issue. Coin dealer Joe O’Connor, the winning bidder, spoke with CoinWeek and described the Pacific $5 as “one of the most iconic of the Pioneer gold coins.” He also noted that it’s “one of the six or eight super rare Pioneer gold coins that appeal to collectors beyond those specifically interested in Pioneer gold.” O’Connor purchased the coin for an unnamed collector but mentioned that he had received inquiries about it from other interested parties.
The 1849 Pacific Company $5 gold coin is the 58th to hammer at a Stack’s Bowers auction for over $1 million, joining a growing number of Gold Rush-era coins that have sold for seven figures in recent years.
When large amounts of placer gold were discovered in the newly acquired California territory, a great migration of fortune-seekers reshaped the American continent. In just three years, San Francisco’s population grew from 500 to 150,000. The need to convert gold bullion into coins was immediate, and several private minters began to fill that need – some dishonestly. One such dishonest actor was the Pacific Company.
The Pacific Company operated from late 1849 to late 1850. Researchers have speculated on the identities of the firm’s principals, but certainty about the origins of these coins remains out of reach.
What survives of the Pacific Company’s tall-tale coinage are three $1 gold pieces, three $5 pieces, and four $10 gold coins. Only two of the $5 coins are in private hands, and only one of the $10s is collectable. All share a common design; the obverse features a pileus centered amongst a glory of rays and stars, while the reverse displays an eagle mid-flight, grasping a branch and what looks like a prospecting hammer.
The $1.26 million Pacific Company $5 gold piece was first catalogued by the Chapman Brothers in 1905 and held for nearly a century by the Garrett family. Prior to this sale, the coin’s most recent auction appearance took place in 2014, where it sold for $763,750 ($1,030,469.56 in 2025 inflation-adjusted dollars).
The example sold on Tuesday is graded PCGS AU58 and exhibits slight, even wear and darkened surfaces along the protected areas.
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