Excerpt from Private Gold Coinage of the United States: A Treatise on the Subject of "Private and Territorial Gold Coins of the U. S.," Including the First Important Issues of the Bechtlers and the Later California Coinage From the Various Private Mints of That State Thru the medium of present day scenario and fiction writers the the picture and story of the pioneer is vividly brought to us. We may still see the covered wagon, stage coach and pony express. We may still witness the hardships these pepple endured, the misfortunes, the brighter side; sudden wealth, love, romance, and the fascination of it all. While we do not seethese things in reality, we do however, as numismatists, preserve that which is real and appropriately emblematic of the pioneer. I refer, of course, to the private issues of gold which are so scarce today and cherished so much by the numismatist. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.