2020 Nevada 10 Goldback Note

Specifications

1. Contains 1/100 troy oz (0.01 oz) of 24-carat gold.
2. Grade: Secondary market. 
3. Metal content: 0.01 troy oz
4. Purity: .999
5. Thickness: 0.10 mm
6. Size: 6.5 cm x 14.28 cm (2.56 in x 5.625 in)
7. Manufactured in the USA.

Description

Justice on this note is not blindfolded. She wears a veil pulled back from her face, because the Justices of the Peace watching over Nevada's Wild West wanted anyone breaking the law to understand that Justice sees everything.

The artwork

The virtue is Justitia, Justice, in her second appearance as a Goldback virtue. She is patterned after the statue of Justice on the Storey County Courthouse in Virginia City, Nevada, where she was given open eyes rather than a blindfold. The pillar to her right is the artist's rendition of the pillars on that same building.

She stands on a pillar engraved with the word “Battleborn”, taken from the language of the state flag and Nevada's status as a state born during the Civil War. Below that sits a badger beside native mesquite trees.

The setting is specific rather than generic. Wild horses run in the distance, and beneath the mountain range lies Pyramid Lake in southeastern Washoe County, an elongated inter-mountain basin ringed by the Lake Range to the east, the Virginia Mountains to the west, the Pah Rah Range to the southwest, and the Fox Range and Smoke Creek Desert to the north.

Three further details are worth finding:

A six shooter and a 30-30 rifle in the foreground.

A wine barrel stamped with the brand “Cup Bearer Wine, Cana Dry Red”, which carries a specific meaning within the wider artwork.

Sandhill cranes in the background.

Who this note suits

The 10 holds 1/100 of a troy ounce of 24-carat gold, twice the metal of the 5, and it is the point on the Nevada ladder where the premium per gram starts to ease. Collectors building the series usually add it early, and it frames well if the artwork is what you are buying.

What it is not is a cheap way to buy gold. At this weight the premium over the gold price remains high, and a Britannia, a Sovereign or a bar will always give you more metal for the same money. The 10 earns its keep as a collectable that happens to contain real gold, not as bullion.

Make it part of your story

Pick the Nevada virtue or landscape you want to keep close. The pleasure is in noticing a detail, sharing its story and choosing what belongs beside it.

The price includes artwork and manufacture as well as gold. Condition and collector demand can affect resale.

* Images are stock photographs.