Advertising card for Ariosa Coffee. 3 x 5”. This is one of a series of fifty cards giving a pictorial history of the United States and Territories. This card is for California with a picture of a clipper ship, a mining town, two miners panning for gold, a mission and a redwood tree. Reverse describes the discovery and history of California as well as the series of advertising cards. This card is numbered 16. Lithographed by Donaldson Bros. New York. Some stains on reverse. Otherwise Very Fine. No photograph. $100.
Check No. 106 to H.W. William or bearer for $20.00. Printed on blue paper by Sonora Herald Print. It appears that Mr. Williams intended this document to act as a $20 scrip note, since it is issued to himself or the bearer and signed by him. At the present writing of this catalog there are only four of these notes known to the author. This may be the only scrip note of the four. Algiers, in Tuolumne County, was a placer mining camp about five miles south of Sonora. It was discovered in 1853 by a Frenchman and had three different names over an approximate ten year period. The mining camp seems to have disappeared by the mid 1870's and no longer exists. Very Fine. $1,250.
No.54 One Dollar Gold Note in payment for water used by bearer Gerrow?, Signed by Pres. Emery and Sec. Van Brunt.
Amador County, located along the central part of the Mother Lode, was the second largest gold producing county in California. The district supported towns such as Jackson, Sutter Creek and Amador City, holding mines such as the Kennedy, Bunker Hill, and Keystone mines. The original lode of John C. Fremont and the Mariposa Estate can be traced directly to the Keystone mine.
The Amador Canal and Mining Company had its roots as the Sutter Canal and Mining Company, which began in 1870. They had purchased the rights of the Butte Ditch Company, a company formed to acquire and supply water to hydraulic mines and a few quartz mines. Their work was under funded, and the Amador Canal & Mining Company was formed and purchased the assets in 1873. The new company completed the ditch, providing water to mills which greatly lowered their operating costs. It remained in operation until well after 1881. [Ref: Mason, J: History of Amador County; 1881, pg 266-267] Ross Raymond, U.S. Mineral Commissioner, stated in 1874 that this company was one of the most important of the region: “This canal is intended to supply with motive power the hoisting works and mills of the various mines on the Mother Lode in this country . . . for sixteen months, the work was prosecuted steadily, until the canal was completed to its junction with the old Butte ditch, a distance of thirty five miles from the reservoir at Sutter Creek.”
Unfortunately, the Butte ditch portion suffered losses of water by evaporation that were unacceptable, and a new ditch to the Mokelumne River had to be dug. The ditch was designed to be full at three feet, five feet wide at the bottom, eight feet wide at the top, with a grade of eight feet per mile, set to deliver 55 cubic feet of water per minute. Sherman Day was the mine engineer in charge of the project in 1873 and 1874. Day consulted with Henry Knight, superintendent of the successful Natoma Canal at Folsom. In the field the company was run by General Alexander. The company had drawn contracts with many of the larger gold producing mines, such as the Amador, Oneida, Maxwell, Keystone mining companies, and hoped for contracts with the Kennedy, Downes, Mahoney and Summit Mining companies. [Ref: Raymond, Mines and Mining West of the Rocky Mountains, 1875, pgs 69-71]
The signors of this One Dollar Scrip note, President J.S. Emery and Secretary, V.N. Van Brunt were not San Francisco residents in 1873 or 1875 as might be expected from a note with a San Francisco dateline, and were probably Amador residents. The note was issued to C.M. Gerrow, also not apparently a San Francisco resident.
This note is one of the great California scrip or private currency rarities, with perhaps three known specimens. This is an R8 and the finest specimen of the three. $12,500.
No.41 Stock certificate for 20 shares belonging to Mrs. G.L. Schell, Signed Sam Hublan. Printed by George Baker of San Francisco. Very Rare. Vignette shows a steep walled valley similar to Yosemite with a water works at the top of a cliff and pipeline down to the bottom of the canyon where a hydraulic works is located. The name of the company is a play on the Amador Mining Company, which was the largest quartz mine in the county, and which later became the Keystone Company. There is no information on the company in Raymond or Burchard. Extremely Fine. $300.
Gold shipped by H.F. Whirlow of Angels Camp to Selby. Shipment of 8 ounces, 24 grains. The shipment was apparently insured by the Sun Insurance Company. Very Fine. $100.
Issued to Mr. John Ryan for the balance of $10.72 in gold dust. Light blue paper "Gold Dust Bought. Quicksilver For Sale, by the Pound or Flask" in upper left corner. There were at least two towns named Cherokee in the California Gold Rush region. Cherokee was a gold camp in Butte County. A town was established there by 1850 or earlier. It was ten miles north of Oroville and was a fairly large town at the time this billhead was issued. Nevada County: Cherokee is on Shady Creek, three miles east of North San Juan. Recorded on Trask's map in 1853. Prospected by Cherokee Indians in 1850 and in 1852 the Grizzly Ditch bought water from Bloody Run and Grizzly Canyon. It was reported that companies could make $50 a day to the hand. Hutchings found it "a small dried up place with few people and those not far from broke". In 1861 it was called almost dead by the mining press, but listed by Bean as a sizeable town. The post office was established in 1855 and was named Patterson but most continued to dateline Cherokee. [Ref: Gudde, California Gold Camps, p. 68] Some light bleaching at left and heavy center crease. Otherwise Very Good condition. $350.
Receipt for collection of a note. Signed by Wells Fargo Agent for shipment. Fine. $60.
The three different checks issued to Chinese workers in California in the 1850’s from gold mining camps are: 1) Check to Quong Fat issued on the Bank of D. O. Mills at Forest Hill, California September 6, 1859; 2) Check issued to Waw Hein at Forest Hill September 26, 1859; 3) Check issued to Angee on the Express and Banking Office of Rhodes & Whitney in Yreka, August 13, 1855. The three checks are endorsed in Chinese on the reverse. Very few original California Gold Rush documents still exist for this historical social category. $650.
License No. 55.055 showing A. Chung has paid four dollars for a mining license, which entitles him to labor in the mines one month. Very Fine. $400.
Included are twelve handwritten pages with detailed illustrations and one cover. This group of letters was written by Seth Boyden to family from the California Gold Fields describing mining methods, amounts of gold mined from certain areas, life as a gold miner, etc. Boyden even writes of new inventions he created to facilitate the gold mining process. His camp was situated near Sutter's Mill and an original, vintage photograph of the mill is included with the letters. These letters are Unique and in Very Fine condition.
Seth Boyden, III lived from 1788 to 1870. He was born in Foxborough, Mass, the son of Seth and Susanna. He and his father were both inventors and Seth Boyden, III was also a manufacturer who Thomas Edison called, “One of America's greatest inventors.” Seth Boyden, III's maternal grandfather, (Uriah Atherton, Jr.) cast the first cannon on this continent under a contract with Paul Revere for the Provincial Government. Boyden's paternal grandfather (Seth Boyden I) was one of the Minute Men and transported Atherton's cannon to Dorchester Heights and also to Concord, Mass.
Seth Boyden II was a prisoner of the Revolutionary War and confined on the prison ship Jersey at New York. Seth Boyden, III, the author of the Gold Rush letters was drafted for the war of 1812. He was the Captain of the Independent Jersey Blues, a military company formed in Newark in 1822, and a part of Colonel John I. Plume's Regiment. His only son, Obadiah Boyden, fought in every major battle of the Civil War with Company K of the 2nd Regiment of the New Jersey Volunteers. He returned home with less than half of his regiment.
Seth Boyden's reputation as an inventor took off at a young age, particularly when he moved from Massachusetts to Newark, N.J. in 1815 and established the first factory for the production of “patent” leather, founding an important American industry. In 1828, after six years of experimenting with cast iron, the Franklin Institute awarded him a premium for his malleable castings. He continued to invent and manufacture machinery for the next twenty years, including stationary steam engines and a furnace grate bar still used in the “American Process” today.
It was in 1849 that he made an unproductive trip to the California gold fields and wrote the Gold Rush letters featured here, returning home a year later. He continued his career as a successful inventor, machinist and manufacturer and even published works on his processes and inventions, until he died in Hilton, N.J. in 1868. His son, Obadiah, fought for the next thirty years to erect a monument in his memory, but was ultimately unsuccessful. [Ref: Dictionary of American Biography, Edited by Allen Johnson, 1929 V.2 pp 528-529) This is one of the most important groups of gold rush letters and contains four original ink drawings of gold camps. Very Fine. No photograph. $50,000. Sold
These small notebooks are 3 X 5” and, per the cover of the book, are designed "To facilitate correspondence between cities and towns, and the mining districts in California, and all parts of the United States." These books were made for Joseph W. Gregory, "Gregory's United States & California Express" at 280 Montgomery Street, San Francisco and Thompson & Hitchcock, 149 Pearl Street, New York. The story of Gregory's Express appears inside the front cover of the notebooks and describes this as the "best medium presented to the public for the prompt dispatch of correspondence". Letter books delivered to the Thompson & Hitchcock Office in New York would be transported to Joseph W. Gregory's Office in San Francisco via messengers on every steamer leaving New York and San Francisco. It was assured that Joseph Gregory's Office had "every facility at hand for their immediate delivery to the consignees in S.F and various parts of California." The back cover of the notebook further describes the areas serviced by this express mode of correspondence, the location of the branch office and evidence of deliveries. These books provided an early forum for conversation between California miners and their families in the east. They are quite rare, and rarer still when they are found complete with a letter.
This pocket book contains a handwritten letter from a Gold miner in Coloma, written Feb. 21st 1851 to his brother and sister. The miner tells his siblings of letters written from Placerville regarding family matters and tells of .45 cents in gold dust he enclosed with the letter. He continues to describe the hard life of a miner and expresses his hopes that no one else gets "California Fever" and "come so far for such little fine stuff." He describes where he lives and amenities he lacks, as well as the cost of daily life. He summarizes by writing, "So if you want to live and take any comfort of your life do not you ever come to California, for it is not what the folks think it is. A man can make money faster than he can in the states and he has to spend it also, so he does not have what he makes." He also writes about his voyage to California and the length of time he traveled, as well as the scenery. This unknown miner’s letter fills seven pages of the little book, which is somewhat worn from being written in, but still legible, with both covers still intact. Transcription of letter is included. Fine. $2,250. Sold
This pocket book is in Mint condition and has never been used, includes cover. See description above. $1,000.
No 1111. Memorandum of Gold Bullion deposited by Dounall & Co. This receipt is extremely rare. During the past 30 years of collecting and dealing in Americana we have never seen or been informed of another example. The receipt measures 11 x 4 ¾,” and was printed in a light brownish colored ink on buff colored paper. The printer is not identified. The gold weight upon delivery, or before melting, is not recorded. However, the weight after melting is listed as 35.90 oz, Fineness .895, and Value of Gold at $664.18. A commission of $2 was charged by the assayer, Fed tax is listed as $3.32, and the cost for freight at $16.56. The Net after all costs was recorded as $642.30. There is a hand written note on the reverse duplicating some of the information already cited. The receipt’s condition is generally Very Fine, but there are indications along the top edge of it having been in a scrapbook. Additionally, there are typical “pocket-type” folds and some minor foxing and stains. R8 quite possibly Unique. $3,500. Sold
Certificate No. 162, issued September 22, 1863 to Leander Sawyer for 50 shares and signed by Frank Bret Harte as Secretary and S.A. Parker as President. There are two vignettes: the state seal at top center and a group of deer at left. It is uncancelled, datelined San Francisco, and has Del Norte County printed beneath masthead. Printed on light pink paper, with black print. Printers-Towne & Bacon. There is a revenue stamp at top left corner, which is initialed by Bret Harte.
Francis Bret Harte was born on August 25th, 1836 in Albany, New York and was the son of a teacher by the name of Henry Harte and his wife Elizabeth Ostrander. Francis was in poor health as a child and turned to literature as a source of solace. After his father’s death in 1853, the family moved to Oakland and his mother remarried. Francis worked as a teacher and also worked in mining for a while, but his passion was writing and he became a journalist in 1860, when the Gunther's Island Massacre occurred. He barely escaped safely after writing a story in a fit of editorial rage and the locals ran him out of town. Francis then moved to San Francisco and started working as a typesetter for “The Golden Era” journal. It is then he began signing his works as ‘Bret’ or the ‘Bohemian’.
The following quote comes from an article on the internet referencing the Diaries of Count Cipriani: “Members of the emperor’s family were said to be Freemasons. I suspect Dillon was a Mason, as was Bret Harte, the Californian writer and poet . . . Bret Harte described himself as a Bohemian, and wrote the ‘Bohemian Papers'. He is one of alleged founders of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco that evolved into the most exclusive private club in the world where the powerful and rich come to meet once a year and renew their secret bond in a wild three-day celebration. Some say these revelers are the Illuminati. I must say I agree . . . Bret Harte was also the patron of William C. Ralston who became a millionaire partner in the Anaconda mine, striking it rich in the gold and silver mines of the West. Harte was a frequent guest at Ralston's palatial home . . . I am sure these two men were friends. Ralston was the founder of the Bank of California and the builder of the Palace Hotel.” This is an interesting summary of his life at the time because reportedly Bret Harte made very little money at the journal, and therefore accepted the position of Superintendent’s Secretary of the United States Mint. In 1862, the same year, he married Anna Griswold who would go on to mother his four children.
Bret Harte soon broadened his literary reach to “The Californian,” (1867) where the bulk of his work was based on life in the California mining camps, a genre he soon mastered. In that same year he became editor of “The Overland Monthly,” a literary journal where his story “The Luck of Roaring Camp” brought him fame and accolades. On March 3rd, 1871, Mark Twain referred to Harte as "the most celebrated man in America today . . . the man whose name is on every single tongue from one end of the continent to the other" (Fischer and Frank, 1995:338).
Flushed with new found success, Harte left California early in February 1871 and headed east to Boston, the literary capital of New England (Merwin, 1967:219). Twain reported that: " . . . his journey east to Boston was a perfect torch light procession of éclat & homage. All the cities are fussing about which shall secure him for a citizen." (Fischer and Frank, 1995:338). When Harte reached New York on the 20th of February en route to Boston (where he arrived on 25 February 1871), even the New York Tribune acclaimed ". . . the fame of Bret Harte, . . . [who] has so brilliantly shot to the zenith as to render any comments on his poems a superfluous tasks" (quoted in Merwin, 1967:222). In Boston he became well acquainted with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as others in the writing profession. In the early 1870’s he contracted with the “Atlantic Monthly” to submit a year’s worth of articles, and received a huge advance of $10,000. At the end of that time, however, his publisher William Dean Howells was not pleased and the readers were losing interest, so Bret Harte moved on, returning to his native New York to write freelance. Neither his novel Gabriel Conroy in 1876, nor his collaboration with Mark Twain on the play “Ah Sin” in 1878 were financial successes. In fact, C.D. Merriman writes: “He and Twain quarreled bitterly amid rumors of his belligerence, spendthrift habits, drinking, and womanizing which would haunt him for years to come.”
Francis went on to be appointed United States Consul, in 1878, in Crefeld, Germany, then Glasgow, Scotland until 1885. Though finances were better they still did not allow enough income to support his wife and children to move and join him in Europe. After his service he spent most days in London. Francis Bret Harte died on May 5th, 1902 of throat cancer in Camberly at the Van De Velde estate. He lies in St. Peter's Churchyard, Frimley, England. “Death Shall Reap the Braver Harvest” appears on his gravestone. [Biography by C.D. Merriman, for Jalic, Inc., 2006.]
While Bret Harte was a huge figure in the literary community during the mining booms of the west, and worked for the U.S. Branch Mint as Secretary to the Mining Superintendent, his position as Secretary of the Alta No. 2 Copper Mining Company was previously unknown, and this is the first mining stock certificate we have seen with his signature. Copper was noted by early published mineral discussions in California, particularly by State Geologist, J. B. Trask from 1851-1854. These discussions resulted in hundreds of prospectors looking for copper around the state. Some of the largest early copper discoveries were in Calaveras County and other nearby counties all surrounding “Copperopolis.” In 1866 J. Ross Browne noted the 13 most important copper districts that had been discovered up to that point in the western states. Among these was the Alta in Del Norte County. The Alta district was located in what was known as “The Low Divide” which was a plateau on a ridge between the Illinois River in Oregon and the Pacific Ocean, according to Browne in 1867. In the center of the district the town of Altaville was established, 15 miles northeast of Crescent City. Much is written on the district in Browne’s 1867 Resources of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains; pp 153 to 155. This stock is Extremely Rare due to the fact that is bears the signature of Francis Bret Harte and the condition is Extremely Fine. $7,500.
Two page document regarding the death of John Stewart of Don Pedro's Bar, Tuolumne County. At the time of Stewart's death he had $163 in gold dust and other assets totaling $332. After payment of the physician, undertaker, and grave diggers’ bills, there was $86 left to distribute. The document includes numerous signed statements including that of the physician attending his death. A person by the name of Hartman was taking care of Stewart during his illness and billed the estate $300 for his time. In his statement he claimed he “could have made from $10-$20/day at mining . . . not working more than 10 hours of the day”. Don Pedro's Bar was named after an early 1848 California Pioneer and Prospector Pierre Sainsevain, who's nickname was Don Pedro. He started his mining at Sutter's Mill on Mormon Island in 1848. Fine. $1,500. Sold
This is a small 5 14/ x 3 ¼” preprinted deposit form for “Coin, Gold Dust, or Checks” for the Banking House of W. H. Ladd & Co., Downieville. O. Bigilow made a deposit of 74.9/20 oz of gold dust “for assay.” The form was filled out in pencil and signed in pencil by Ladd & Co. at the bottom right. William Ladd was one of the many gold dust brokers and bankers of gold rush fame. Ladd got his start in San Francisco in the early 1850’s and by 1859 or earlier had moved to Downieville. [Ref: Cross: History of Banking in California, page 243]. The condition of this great little historical document is not pristine. It is very stained and has several folds and pinholes, but other wise fine. $75.
Unissued First and Second of Exchange on an uncut sheet of two. Lamping ran a banking and gold dust business in Downieville, the central gold camp in Sierra County and also the county seat, in the 1860’s. For an unknown reason Ira Cross, in his book, Banking History of California, omitted most of the Sierra County banks. These exchanges are fairly common. Apparently a book of them was found more than thirty years ago and distributed about that same time. However, it is difficult to find original uncut sheets today. Uncirculated. Lot of two pieces $150.
Successor to Hall & Allen. Assayer's report of gold dust purchased. Very Fine. $600. Sold
This tiny treasure measures 3 ½ x 2 1/8” and is essentially a business card sized receipt for 38 oz, 8 dwt of “Gold Dust Bought of” Iowa Co. at $18 oz. The total value of the purchase is written as $691.70 and signed by W & P Nicholls. The printing is in black ink on white business card stock paper. Nicholls was a gold dust buyer at Dutch Flat located in the central Mother Lode region near Auburn. The Iowa Co. may have mined this gold at nearby Iowa Hill, which was a rich tertiary gold deposit. Light soiling. Fine. $600. Sold
No. 128 Stock certificates issued January 1853 as a bearer certificate for one share, signed James A. Shorb as President and E. H. Cornwall as Secretary. “El Dorado County, California” printed boldly under the title and vignette. No dateline, but the certificate is printed by Leefe in New York.
The Eureka Quartz Mining Company was probably operating in Georgetown. This is quite possibly the earliest known lode mining company stock certificate extant.
There was a second Eureka Mine in Placerville, but it was not active until decades later. The Eureka quartz mine at Georgetown had a 130-foot deep shaft in 1867. It was located immediately north of the Woodside on the same quartz vein, which was about two feet wide. They had a steam hoist, but no mill. The vein had a NE-SW strike and easterly dip averaging about $30 per ton, according to J. Ross Browne in Mineral Resources West of the Rocky Mountains, 1868. By 1882, the mine was 230 feet deep, inactive, and full of water, according to the History of El Dorado County, 1883.
James A. Shorb was a physician born in Maryland about 1798. He went to California for the gold rush, living in Marin County in 1850 according to the US Census. He went back to Maryland a few years later and resumed his practice as a physician. Cornwall was a clerk in New York City.
Stock certificates from the California Gold Rush period of the 1850’s are Very Rare, particularly those that were domestically financed. This is the first time a certificate from this company has been known to us. We are aware of only the two certificates offered in this catalog, making this an R8. Extremely Fine. $3,500.
No. 107 Stock certificate issued January 1853 as a bearer certificate for four shares, signed James A. Shorb as President and E. H. Cornwall as Secretary. See description above. This is the first time any certificate for this company has been known to us, and we are only aware of two certificates. R8. Very Fine. $3,500. Sold
This document gives power of attorney by Mr. Seaton to Mr. Boring for work on the Utah, Bright Star, Mammoth, Erin, Lost Rose, and American Lodes. Mr. Seaton also owned mining ground at Gold Hill, Utah Territory, known as the Red Lode. The Document was written in the town of Esmeralda and witnessed in the town of Monoville, both in Calaveras County. While these two names are identical to two early central eastern California mining regions, they coincidentally are not the same. Esmeralda, according to Gudde, was eight miles S.E. of San Andreas along Indian Creek and was a trading post for quartz mines. This is the first document we have seen from this short lived mining camp. Extremely Rare. Very Fine. $1,250.
Palmer & Day were assayers and bankers in California. The pair got their start in Folsom in 1860, where Palmer established an assay office and Wells Fargo Express office. The pair expanded the assay business to Gold Hill in Nevada Territory in 1862, opening a bank there as well for a short period of time. Day, a young man of 23, ran the business and lived in Gold Hill. They sold the Gold Hill assay office less than one year later to Harvey Harris, who moved to Gold Hill from Marysville. Apparently the Palmer & Day bank was kept open for a few months after the sale of the assay business, probably to facilitate closure. The Folsom office remained open for some time.
Charles Theodore Hart Palmer established and built the first school in Sacramento in 1849. In 1860 he made the preparations for the Carson Valley Expedition that went to defend the honor of the Indian massacre near Pyramid Lake. He married Sherman Day’s daughter.
Roger Sherman Day was the son of Sherman Day, who was a prominent ‘49er and mining man. Sherman Day was an engineer at New Almaden (1861) and Folsom, among other places. In 1855 he wrote a treatise on the wagon roads that crossed California. In all likelihood, Sherman Day was C. T. H. Palmer’s real business partner, and Palmer hired his son through family loyalty to help him learn the business trade.
Checks from Palmer & Day in Folsom are scarce, and those from Gold Hill quite rare. Assay receipts from either location are R7, Extremely Rare.
No. 6289 Assay receipt. Palmer & Day were bankers at an assay office in Folsom and Gold Hill Nevada during Civil War years. They started in California during the Gold Rush as assayers and gold dust buyers. Fine. $150. Sold
No. 2500 Assay receipt for 218 + oz of gold dust for assay. Fine. $150.
No. 2794 Assay receipt for 39 + oz of gold dust for assay. Fine. $150.
Forest Hill was a rich gold region immediately to the east of Auburn, California. Today it is perhaps best remembered by collectors because of the wonderful archive of Kellogg and Humbert bullion receipts that parallel the S.S. Central America gold ingots. Garrison is not listed in Bancroft. This gold dust purchase “bought of” receipt is an R7. Fine. $450.
See description above. Fine. $450.
All three of these checks are drawn on the Bank of D. O. Mills. “Forest Hill” is written over “Sacramento” on the dateline. Each was signed by Hardy & Kennedy, the merchants who saved from obscurity some of their records, including the Kellogg & Humbert Assay receipts seen in this catalog. These checks are made out to important merchants: 1) A. Hallidie & Co., manufacturers of mine equipment, and later of a tram system that allowed accessibility of mines in steep terrains; 2) Freeman & Co., major central California Gold Rush express agents; 3) Huntington & Hopkins, major hardware dealers during the gold rush and beyond. No photograph. $450.
These two checks are drawn on the Bank of D. O. Mills, Sacramento. Each is signed “Chg (charge) Hardy & Kennedy”. These checks are made out to “coin sent you”, each for $3000. These refer to gold coin sent to Hardy & Kennedy by Mills. Hardy & Kennedy purchased huge amounts of placer gold, which they had processed by Kellogg & Humbert, assayers. Coin was needed in circulation, however, and D. O. Mills was able to provide it. One check is black on white from 1859, the other red on white, 1860. Rare usage, and a very nice companion piece to the Kellogg & Humbert assay receipts. No photograph. $425.
Framed colored photo of five Gold Rush miners standing with pick axes and shovels beside a long tom with a one-room log cabin pictured on the hillside behind them. Original tintype measures approximately 6 x 8” and is matted in gilt metal and encased within a wooden “book” covered in brown leather, with hinges and two clasps. The inside cover is lined in burgundy velvet with burnout design. The case measures 7 x 9.” A rare and historic piece illuminating a unique period in America’s frontier. Case’s top and bottom are starting to separate, but photo is intact. $25,000 Sold
This photograph is an Ambrotype with the original non-patriotic, pre-Civil War case, of a business man in his dress attire holding a gold ingot and wearing California gold quartz jewelry. Extremely Rare. Very Fine. $5,500. Sold
Unique and unusual pair of Daguerreotypes in excellent condition with the original case of a young man in his business attire and with another view of him dressed in his miner’s outfit. The pair was perhaps sent home to his family or girlfriend. There are no photographer’s marks on the backs of the photographs. The miner’s outfit appears to be a typical coarse sewn canvas-style shirt meant for cool weather and hard work. The watch chain is ever present in California life, but would be removed during hard labor. Extremely Rare. Extremely Fine. $8,500.
Lady with hand colored gold jewelry on a ferrotype in a debossed frame of William Shew at 425 Montgomery Street. 2. Lady with child, with hand colored gold jewelry on a 3 x 4” ferrotype and tinted cheeks on a debossed frame for D. H. Vance, San Francisco, patented July 1854. 3. Ambrotype of a business man in a full case, roughly 2 x 2” in a William Shew, Montgomery Street frame 4. Ferrotype in full case approximately 2 x 3” of a young man. Guilt frame, debossed William Shew Montgomery, San Francisco. Shew was born in New York in 1820 and learned the photography trade by Samuel F. B. Morse. He came to California for the gold rush in 1849 and left New York permanently in 1851, arriving on the Steamer Tennessee, which sank shortly thereafter. He set up his dag gallery in 1859. For more information on Shew and other western photographers, please see Mautz's Biographies of Western Photographers, 1997. Fine. $1,750.
Daguerreotype in full case, broken at hinge, approximately 3 x 3” with no photographer shown. Very Fine. No photograph. $2,500.
Two tin types of a gentleman. One is in a William Shew partial case, which is missing the front cover. Both are 2 7/8” x 2 ½”. The second man is possibly a miner and the tintype is in a full leather case. No photograph. $1,500.
For specific California Coiners, please see the company name under their geographic headings.
The Rush For Gold, indeed gold and the new wealth it provided was precisely what the California gold rush was all about. The coin offered in this lot personifies the very essence of the greatest gold rush in history. It began in 1848 along the banks of rivers and streams in what would become the heart of California’s Mother Lode region. This coin was made from some of the earliest gold mined in California during the spring and summer of 1848. The 1389 gold quarter eagles counter stamped “CAL” were arguably the first “official” souvenirs of the California Gold Rush, and America’s very first commemorative coins.
On January 24, 1848 John Marshall discovered gold in the tailrace of Sutter’s sawmill located the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma. Somewhat unsure of what he had found Marshall hurried back to Sacramento to show his find to Sutter. After some very elementary tests Sutter confirmed that Marshall had in fact discovered gold. At that moment Sutter became justifiably concerned that a gold rush of sorts might occur if word of the discovery were to get out.[1]
Initially Sutter and Marshall endeavored to keep news of the gold discovery, “secret until a certain grist mill of Sutter’s was finished.”[2] Clearly Sutter wanted to avoid any potential problems the lure of gold might have on his ranch hands and others. He was probably most concerned they would abandon him, quit their jobs, and overrun his land in search of gold. Ultimately Sutter’s concerns proved well founded. However, his attempts of secrecy were to no avail and within a short period of time the rush was on. News of the discovery spread quickly throughout the region and soon hundreds, and then thousands of able-bodied men were off to the “diggings” to make their fortune.
Within months of Marshall’s discovery Colonel Mason, the Military Governor of California, accompanied by a young Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sherman, lead a party of soldiers from Monterey into the foothills and mountains to observe and confirm first hand the extent of the gold excitement and mining activity.[3] Mason and his troops got under way on the 17th of June and by mid August they had returned to their military headquarters at Monterey.
During his brief journey Mason acquired a total of about 230 ounces of native gold from miners and other sources. However, only a small quantity of the 230 ounces was actually purchased by Mason: “Specimen No. 7 which I got from Mr. Neligh, at $12 the ounce,” the remainder “presented for transport to the department by the gentlemen named below.” At the conclusion of his letter Mason listed the names of fourteen individuals and companies who gave or “presented” him gold to be sent to the east and among those was Captain J. A. Sutter.[4] Some other historical references differ in interpretation, however we chose to quote an original August 17, 1848 source.
Upon his return to Monterey, Mason sent his letter of August 17th to General Jones, and the gold to Philadelphia where it could be assayed and the results reported to Secretary of war Marcy.[5] President Polk was subsequently informed and on December 5, 1848, during his State of the Union Address, Polk extolled California’s abundance of gold and an excited world took notice and The Rush For Gold was on!
“It was known that the mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition. Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service who have visited the mineral district and derived the facts which they detail from personal observation. Reluctant to credit the reports in general circulation as to the quantity of gold, the officer commanding our forces in California visited the mineral district in July last for the purpose of obtaining accurate information on the subject. His report to the War Department of the result of his examination and the facts obtained on the spot is herewith laid before Congress. When he visited the country there were about 4,000 persons engaged in collecting gold. There is every reason to believe that the number of persons so employed has since been augmented. The explorations already made warrant the belief that the supply is very large and that gold is found ar various places in an extensive district of country.
The effects produced by the discovery of these rich mineral deposits and the success which has attended the labors of those who have resorted to them have produced a surprising change in the state of affairs in California. Labor commands a most exorbitant price, and all other pursuits but that of searching for the precious metals are abandoned. Nearly the whole of the male population of the country have gone to the gold districts. The abundance of gold and the all-engrossing pursuit of it have already caused in California an unprecedented rise in the price of all the necessaries of life.” [6]
Contemplate, if you will: the coin offered here was made from some of the very first California gold mined after Marshall’s discovery. Gold that Governor Mason himself obtained first-hand during his visit to the mines in the spring of 1848. Gold that firmly held Californians in its grasp. The very gold that quickly excited citizens of the world. Gold that by the time 1848 had ended had been shipped east, delivered to the United States Mint at Philadelphia where it was refined, assayed and then processed into 1, 389 quarter eagles. Gold that was destined to commemorate the excitement and importance of the California Gold Rush by being coined into quarter eagles and counter stamped with the letters CAL.
It is remarkable that the counter stamped letters “CAL” were added to the 1848, quarter eagles thus making them easily identifiable and preserving forever their important historical significance.
Exactly how many of these coins have survived since their coining in 1848 is impossible to determine with any certainty, and estimates very widely among expert numismatists. However, if the population reports provided by two of the major authentication and grading services can be relied on as indicators, there are only a fraction of the original 1389 coins in any condition and all grades that remain today.
The Professional Coin Grading Service, PCGS, has authenticated, graded, and encapsulated a total of just 59 1848 CAL quarter eagles. Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, NGC, lists a total population of just 46 that their company has handled. Many of these 145 combined pieces are the same coin, submitted multiple times for potential upgrades. Certainly there are others that have escaped the melting pots over the years and still exist besides just those documented by PCGS and NGC, and any estimate would only be arbitrary. The coin offered in this lot has pleasing luster and excellent details consistent for its grade, PCGS XF45. POR
The following lot consists of three different types of California Counters. “Metal gaming counters probably saw their greatest use in the United States in private card games, such as poker, and in public games where the establishment did not participate directly in the game.” During the height of the gold rush era, counters “probably were used largely in San Francisco and elsewhere in northern California.” [Ref: Fauver, p9, Early California Counters].
Counters had no set value or stated denomination. Fauver (Early California Counters, 1991) explains that in 1845 Henery Anners published a book entitled “Hoyle’s Games” in which he defined the rules of poker and commented about gaming counters: “Counters or chips are generally used, the valuations of which must be agreed upon on commencing.” Many of the known types of California Counters resembled in both size and design circulating United States coinage of the late 1840’s to 1860’s including 50 cent and $1.00 silver coins as well as $1.00, $2.50, $5.00, $10.00, and $20.00 gold pieces. Most mimic US gold pieces.
During the California gold rush, especially during the early to mid 1850’s, circulating coinage of any type or denomination was scarce in the west. As a means of exchange, and in spite of its abundance, gold dust, or any other form of native gold, was at best difficult and cumbersome to deal with when conducting business transactions. At the card table gold dust would have been equally as troublesome if used to pay for wagers. Paper currency was not well circulated or accepted in the West until decades later. In addition to poker, Californians also enjoy several other types of card games including twenty-one, monte, euchre, and casino. Fauver also notes that betting was commonplace on other games such as roulette, dice, dominoes, billiards, pin pool, keno, prize fighting, horse racing, shooting matches, and even dog fighting. “Consequently, many of the card games (etc) mentioned here were commonly played with the assistance of counters”. The following three California Counters are offered here as a group.
$5 Size or 22 mm: Dated 1849, Brass with reeded edge.
Obverse: Liberty head facing left. Thirteen stars next to and along the rim edge evenly spaced beginning at 7 o’clock and ending at 5 o’clock with the date 1849 positioned at the bottom between the first and last stars. Reverse: A gold kneeling, facing left and holding a large gold nugget or ore specimen. There are a pick, shovel, gold pan and palm-like tree to his left and the words “California” at the top and the date “1849” again (as on the obverse) on the bottom. There is a moderate degree of ware affecting most design details but that only lends itself to the romance of the piece . . . begging for answers to the questions: Where was it played, by whom, and when? Exciting notions when one consider this counter was made and played a 160 years ago. Fine to Very Fine.
$10 Size or 27 mm: Dated 1847, Brass with reeded edge.
Obverse: Liberty head facing to the left. Thirteen stars along rim edge evenly spaced beginning at seven o’clock and ending at 5 o’clock. Date “1847” placed between first and thirteenth stars. Reverse: Flag of the United States waving from staff with two stars on each of the flag along rim edge with the words “California” at the top and “Counter” at the bottom. This counter has sharp details and some very pleasing light rose toning. There are a number of carbon spots on both the obverse and reverse. Uncirculated.
$20 Size or 34 mm: Dated 1852, Brass with reeded edge.
Obverse: Liberty head facing to the left. Thirteen stars along rim edge evenly spaced beginning at seven o’clock and ending at 5 o’clock. Date “1852” placed between first and thirteenth stars. Reverse: Flag of the United States waving from staff with three stars on each of the flag along rim edge with the words “California” at the top and “Counter” at the bottom. There is wear at the high points especially hair over eye, brow and bun. The stars and bars on the flag are worn but most details remain. Extra Fine to About Uncirculated.
Group of three California counters. $1,150. Sold
We currently have many other “Counters” in inventory and invite you to contact us for details and pricing.
Conversion Chart for California Pioneer & Foreign Gold Coinage and Foreign Silver Coinage. Hand written on soft blue lined paper. Solidly Gold Rush era but not dated. The piece may date to the 1854 period when California private gold coins were devalued in the media. For example one of the line entries is “California twenty dollars, now worth only $19.50.” Very Fine. $2,500.
This label measures 3.75” and is red and green on crème colored paper. It is a $50 Slug Facsimile Label for the Slug Brand Tobacco from Havana, Cuba. There is a vignette of a famous U.S. Assay Office and $50 Gold Coin similar to the 1851 .887 slug in the center of the label. Extremely Rare. Mint Condition. Provenance: Art Kagin Collection. $1,500.
The Massachusetts and California Company stocks are among the most desirable of the private gold coin related ephemera. At present there are three of these certificates known to the author. All three have been in private collections for at least thirty years. None of the three have been filled out. The piece clearly dates from 1849. They were to have been issued at the North Hampton office for the company. These certificates are important because this company left Boston for California in January of 1849, arriving in San Francisco in August with 49 passengers. The company's President, Josiah Hayden, was a gold pen manufacturer. His son, William, was the company's assayer, and a veteran of the U.S. Mint system. Private gold coins are known from this firm. Mint condition. $15,000.
Same as above but in brown stains along right edge and foxing along lower half.. $12,500.
Important, handwritten, two page, 1851 Gold Rush letter discussing $50 Gold Coins. This letter from W. E. L. Foote on California Street in San Francisco to E. L. Foote in New York gives a classic and very rare contemporary description of the reasons private gold coins were needed for circulation in California. “Gold dust is very scarce now and difficult to buy on account of the scarcity of small gold coin, and miners not being willing to take the $50 pieces of the US Assay Office. Said pieces are 2% discount now on account of the scarcity of gold coin.” That quote says it all. It is written on very thin paper and has some creasing but is otherwise Fine. $7,500.
Four page letter sheet illustrated in Don Kagin's Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States.
When Dr. Kagin published this sheet it was from a Xerox copy provided to him by Henry Clifford. Clifford, however, did not own the original copy, which was held in a private collection until recently. It is unarguably the most important illustrated Gold Rush letter sheet pertaining to privately minted California gold coins.
The letter sheet illustrates the obverse and reverse of a Pelican Co. $10 gold coin of 1849. Only one Pelican piece is known today, which is a unique pattern. It is not known if any of the three different denominations discussed in the letter sheet were ever circulated. This letter sheet, dated 1849, discusses the coining of $2 ½, $5, $10 gold coins, the purchase of gold dust and bullion, and assaying of all samples. The piece is datelined “Upper California” and contains testimonials of two members of the New Orleans Branch Mint.
The Pelican Company was apparently run by Dr. Pearson, who appears to have worked in the New Orleans area as well as working for the New Orleans Branch Mint. Three pages of the letter sheet are blank. The letter sheet is unlisted in Baird's 1849-1869 California Pictorial Letter sheets 1967. It is possible that the sheet was not known to Clifford at the time of publication of Baird’s book, though it certainly would have been included had a second edition been printed since Clifford's collection of illustrated California letter sheets was one of the best in private hands at the time.
The Pelican letter sheet has a few spots of foxing along the bottom and the four edges. There are numerous folds to the lower left corner and folds and chips along the upper right edge. At the top is written “Exhibit A”, a notation rendering the thought that perhaps this letter sheet was used as an exhibit in a lawsuit of unknown origin and consequence. $25,000. Sold
Uncut sheet of three bearer notes with no bank designation. Trimmed tight at left and right edges.
These notes date from 1849, typical of other notes that bear the date “18” with a blank spot following for hand written insertion of the next two digits. Over the years, about six of these sheets have been seen, but it is unknown how many of them were different sheets, versus different offerings or sales of the same single sheet. Much could be speculated about the source and use of these notes, but there is no printer shown on any of the three notes. There are no album adhesive marks on the reverse, typical of printer’s proof specimens.
It might be suggested that the sheet was made for marketing to a bank that would then print the specific bank information at the bottom. The artist is shown on the $20 note, “P. Maverick”. The vignettes are typical of the period, but suggest comment: at least three of the vignettes are partials, taken from larger engravings. In particular, the $10 note has Lady Justice at right, and part of a word is cut off. Now the story gets interesting.
Peter Maverick was one of America’s great engravers (1780-1831). Maverick worked the majority of his career in New York City. He and his stable of artistic engravers busily made copper plate engravings for popular books and prints, artists, and did a lot of custom work for the art community. When bank notes began to come into play, Maverick’s firm was again employed, time and again. His most famous pupil was Asher B. Durand, a talented artist and engraver whose first work was an engraved copper cent on which he placed his name so that it would fit into the back of a watch case.[7]> Durand went on to a great career, and was a noted bank note engraver as well.
Maverick’s talent was so great that one of his masterpieces is none other than the famous broadside for Ben Franklin, “The Art of Making Money Plenty . . . ” published in 1817. The Library of Congress holds this pictograph. Maverick died suddenly in 1831, and the shop kept his name for at least another year until his son Sam took over, expanded the business to stationery and printing, and ran it successfully for at least a couple of decades.[8] This helps date the engravings on this note as c 1821 to 1832, but the presence of the steam train and steamship narrows the field even more to about 1830 to 1832.
Further, because the note uses P. Maverick’s engravings, they can only have come from the shop of Samuel Maverick, who thus must have made this note. Based on the new identification of the maker of this note, it could be surmised that this note might have been made for the Bank of New York, San Francisco, of which notes are known, but not present in this catalog.
Only One printed proof is known, though it was printed by Doty & Bergen of New York. However, most of the California Gold Rush notes were printed in the east, so it is anybody’s guess who commissioned Maverick to print this note sheet. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. $5,500.
This 10 x 11” chart in large letters shows the weights of specific coins and any allowed deviation for normal ware. It is clearly made for use by banks and bullion dealers and shows how many ounces of silver or gold are contained in bags of coins of specific size. For example, a $1000.00 bag of trade dollars contains 875 troy oz of silver and $1000 bag of “American Dollars” contains 859.375 troy ounces of silver. The chart is made on thick card stock and is a classic representation of the coin and bullion business from the gut of the most productive mining era of the 1870's. (Top and bottom edges have been slightly cropped in this photograph.) $1,250.
Supplementary to the Journal of Finance and Bank Reporter, and Bank Note Safeguard, containing by far the largest number of facsimiles of gold and silver coins of any publication in the world.” Compiled and published by Daniel M. Hodges, Banker. 49 pages. This coin manual is important because on the cover and title page are illustrated a number of the private gold coins. Fine. $350.
This is a 24 page, approximately 5 x 7” soft bound coin catalog. There are Vignettes of 1849 U.S. $20 and 1840 U. S. $1 coins on the front cover. It is a third edition: “We wish to purchase collections of coins of any magnitude for spot cash if the price is right . . . that this book may be the means of rescuing a large number of coins from circulation and placing many an honest dollar in the pockets of the fortunate possessor, is the earnest wish of the publisher.” The book includes mostly rare U.S. coinage including colonial issues. Fine condition. $200.
End California Gold Rush Coin
[1] Elisabeth L. Egenhoff, The Elephant As They Saw It, State of California, Divisions of Mines, p51, Letter form Colonel R.B.
Mason to General R. Jones, Adjutant General, U.S.A., Washington, D.C. dated August 17, 1848.
[2] Mason’s Letter, The Elephant As They Saw It, p51
[3] Mason’s Letter, The Elephant As They Saw It, p50
[4] Mason’s Letter, The Elephant As They Saw It, p57
[5] Kenneth Bressett, The Official Red Book of United States Coins 2007, p227.
<[6] James Polk, State of the Union Address, December 5, 1848.
[7] “Asher B. Durand’s Career as an Engraver” by Wayne Craven; The American Art Journal, Vol.3 No.1, Spring 1971, page 39.
[8] See Longworth’s New York Directory, 1832-3, and 1834-5 for entries of the firm under both names.
[9] Carson City Silver Age, 10/20/1861
[10] Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 1, 1853-1866, p208-9, 212.
[11] Carson City Silver Age, October 2, 1862.
[12] The Silver City Assay Office is not listed in the 1863 Nevada Territorial Directory.
[13] Doten Journals, p1453.
[14] Clark, editor; The Journals of Alfred Doten [Doten Journals.jpg">, 1849-1903; 1973. Pp 1241, 1368, 1382, 1391, 1453, 1860.
[15] After the Territorial Census, Irvin is absent from US Census data. He may have died shortly after.
[16] Mining & Scientific Press May 21, 1864. p341. 391
[17] 1862-1874 San Francisco Directories
[18] 1875-1877 San Francisco Directories. Chalfant. The Story of Inyo, 1933.
[19] 1881 San Francisco Directory
[20] Owens. California Coiners and Assayers, 2000
[21] Kagin, p305.
[22] San Francisco Herald, November 19, 1851.
[23] Kagin, p167.
[24] Hittell, Mining in the Pacific States of North America, p208, 1861. Interestingly this important
reference is also titled “Bancroft’s Hand-Book of Mining for the Pacific States”.
[25] San Francisco Herald, January 8, 1852.
[26] [Ref: Hittell, p208.jpg">.