1854 $20 Kellogg & Co. MS(PCGS#10222)

February 2026 Showcase Auction - The James A. Stack, Sr. Collection Part II

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

23066

Grade

AU58+

Price

90,000

Lot Description

A coin of dramatic historical importance, the 1854 Kellogg $20 from the collection of Kellogg himself.<p><p>Rich golden tones and exquisite frost cover both sides, each imbued with superb satiny luster and excellent visual appeal. Boldly struck and showing lovely originality, unsurprising for an example that can be traced back to its time of production and has only sold at public auction once. This piece at least went into a bag if not actual circulation before Kellogg plucked it out, as a few contact marks are seen, including a reeding mark on Liberty's rounded high relief cheek. A few other scrapes and abrasions are seen, including one beneath N of CALIFORNIA on the reverse, one to the lower right of the star cluster over the eagle, and a little gathering of shallow scratches above and right of the final date digit on the obverse. The aesthetic appeal is superb, as this coin looks much as it did when Kellogg decided it was a keeper. While some trivial hairlines and light handling are apparent, it's unlikely this coin ever saw any real circulation.<p><p>John Glover Kellogg, founder of the San Francisco coining firm that bore his name, arrived in San Francisco in October 1849. He worked as the cashier for the assaying and coining operation of Moffat & Company, and continued to be associated with the firm through its days as Curtis, Perry, and Ward, operating as the United States Assay Office. When that partnership pivoted into the branch mint's creation, Kellogg and an assayer named G.F. Richter determined to start their own assay office. They first hung out their shingle in December 1853, and a month later had been induced to strike a fresh batch of coins to remedy the painful lack of circulating medium, the issue that the slow-coming Mint was established to ameliorate. Their first coins appeared publicly on February 11, 1854, "an exact and very handsome imitation of the United States coin … highly creditable to Messrs. Kellogg & Co., who enjoy the highest degree of confidence from the business community," the <em>San Francisco Herald</em> reported. The opening of the San Francisco Mint in April 1854 did little to diminish Kellogg's booming business, and substantial numbers of $20 gold coins were struck through 1854 and 1855.<p><p>Kellogg is interesting to numismatists not simply for his Forrest Gump-like association with nearly every major pioneer coining operation in San Francisco, but because he was a collector himself. Two sales of Kellogg's coins were conducted by Thomas Elder, the first in October 1916 offering seven coins, the second in March 1924 offering five. In the introduction to the first sale, Elder wrote:<p><p><em>These coins are owned by Mrs. Paul Kellogg, daughter of the late John Glover Kellogg, the well known Assayer and member of the firm of Kellogg & Company. The coins were collected by Mr. Kellogg, senior, himself. This lot includes a choice octagonal slug dated 1851, with incuse edge, uncirculated; an uncirculated Mormon $20 gold coin, a piece of great rarity and value, and the finest known example; an Augustus Humbert $20, the rare "884 Thous" type, In brilliant proof state; the exceedingly rare Moffat & Co. $10 with eagle and banner on the reverse, in proof state; an Oregon $5.00 beaver coin in very fine preservation; a Norris, Grigg [sic] & Norris $5, and other pieces.</em><p><p>While census records do not show Kellogg had a son named Paul (nor a daughter who married a Paul), these clearly came from Kellogg's family. The second sale was a consignment from the estate of Kellogg's son Edward Russell Kellogg after his 1923 death in the train station in Syracuse.<p><p>The 12 total coins that could potentially be traced to Kellogg's collection include just four struck in his name: a gem Mint State 1854 $20 was in the 1916 sale, while the March 1924 sale included a copper pattern 1854 $20, a majestic Proof 1855 Kellogg & Company $50, and this coin. It has not appeared for competition at public auction since Kellogg's son's estate trustees consigned it in 1924. As a coin, this is lovely, nicer than the vast majority seen. But the opportunity to buy Kellogg's own specimen is a truly once-in-a-lifetime event.