Jayhawk Gold’s M.E. Hart's Coins of the Golden West
Private
Updated:
5/15/2026
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M.E. Hart’s “Coins of the Golden West”.
The advertising card is one of three known to Jayhawk Gold. Mike Locke has one, another with minor damage was sold by Heritage about 10 years ago, and this one was acquired by private treaty in 2025.
Much has been written about the enigmatic M.E. Hart and “Hart’s Coins of the Golden West” that were sold at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition (PPE) in San Francisco as an affordable alternative to the US issued PPE commerative coins.
Locke, Owens, Hyder and others have researched the possible identities of M.E. Hart and provided evidence of who it might have been. From a collecting standpoint it doesn’t really matter, but as a romantic, I prefer Mary E. Hart. She was an adventurous and successful woman who spent time in an untamed and unforgiving part of the world, the Alaska Territory.
The 36 token sets were originally packaged in a hammered copper frame with purple velvet lining and ribbons, manufactured by Shreve & Co. Denominations of 1/4, 1/2 and One were included as follows: Alaska had 4 different sets, California had different 4 sets, and Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington were represented by 1 set each, all made of native 10k gold. Additionally, the 36 tokens were sold individually, and an advertising card was produced offering them for sale. One of the cards was sold at auction a few years ago, and several others are known to be in private collections.
At least two complete sets of the 36 tokens have appeared at auction over the years. Jay Roe believed that there may have been as few as 8 complete sets sold. The pieces included in the complete sets are generally the more common varieties. As might be expected, with the PPE in California, the California tokens like the ones in the set survive in greater numbers and in better condition than the others.
Several different obverse Indian head dies were used on several of the Alaska and California tokens, and some were interchanged between the two types, resulting in several rare combinations.
There also exists interesting dates and dies that are obviously made by the same engraver, likely after the PPE, but not included in the Hart’s set in the Red Book. There are also other examples that Jay Roe called pattern pieces, all of which are relatively rare.
Some of the “slots” in the set have more than one token included. Those additional tokens have different dates, obverse/reverse dies, or major die re-engraving as attributed below.
Die variety attribution courtesy of MEHartgold.com and rarity comments calgoldcoin.com (Mike Locke)
See Custom Sets, Tokens and Medals, for additional dates and die marriages not in the Competitive Set. Includes some seldom seen rarities.
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Jayhawk Gold’s M.E. Hart's Coins of the Golden West
By Jayhawk Gold
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