No.70 Second Exchange Check for $50.00 payable to Amelia Mills, signed Birdseye & Co. by Dawley. Printed by Marvin and Hitchcock, datelined Nevada, Cal. Little is known of the Birdseye Company. This is a typical name of one of the many mining companies around Nevada City in the 1850’s and 1860’s. In 1874, the Birdseye Company was operating a placer gold mine at You Bet near Nevada City, according to Raymond, 1874. Very Fine. $150.
Photo Courtesy of Stack’s, Lot 3503, John J. Ford, Jr. Collection Part XX & XXI, October 2007 Sale.
The W. L. Berry ingot here is from Nevada City, California. In the 1860’s, Nevada City was routinely called “Nevada” by locals in the same manner that Virginia City, Nevada was called “Virginia” in the early years of both mining districts. The ingot is made in the style of an early to mid-1860’s silver ingot, but the date cannot be correctly ascertained without further research.
Not much is known of Berry in Nevada City or in Virginia City. He is not listed in Bean’s Directory of Nevada County (1867) or any of the Pacific Coast Business Directories (1867, 1871, 1875). What we do know is that Berry moved to Tucson, Arizona in the spring of 1876 and opened an assay office for F. W. Blake, according to an article in the Arizona Weekly Miner (4/28/1876). Four months later Blake opened an assay office in Prescott. Berry was not with him, and apparently the Tucson office closed. An individual known as William Berry (possibly the same man) was active in mining in both Virginia City and the Grass Valley region. His name is readily found in local directories, and the Berry Pit at Flowery near Virginia City may be named in his honor. More research is needed to unravel Berry’s background.
This trapezoidal shaped gold and silver ingot measures approximately 2 x .75 x .5” and weighs 206.5 grams. The face reads: SILVER 854 F[INE]/GOLD 15FIN[E]. The back reads: W.L. BERRY, ASSAYER/NEVADA. The top side reads: GOLD $1.46. The bottom side reads: SILVER $7.34. The left side reads: OZ/6.65 and the right side reads: No.3. Both faces of this ingot are polished.
This ingot is from the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection .The Stack’s Catalog labeled this ingot as “The Only Bar by Berry Known to the Cataloguer” and “ex Art Kagin Collection, as well as ex Newcomer’s Collection, according to Mehl’s 1931 inventory”. Very Fine. $52,500.
Advertising Card reads “Drafts for sale on Atlantic States & Europe in sums to suit.” Bought of Richardson & Co. for 33 2/3 oz Gold Dust, totaling $621.23. Signed by H. Mackie & Co. Mackie & Co. were successors to C.W. Mulford. Mulford was a gold dust buyer and banker in Nevada City around 1861. Mackie & Co. was run by a father and son combination through 1869 when they incorporated as the Bank of Nevada County. Unfortunately they were not successful for long, according to Cross. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. Very Fine. $1,750.
Unissued receipt for gold dust for assay. Ott had an assay office of long standing in Nevada City, California. He is perhaps best known as one of the first assay offices to assay Comstock ore in June of 1859. On a special day in June 1859, when word got out of the high grade assays, a virtual stampeed of miners left Nevada City and Grass Valley for the Comstock. It is rumored that a single ingot bearing his name still exists, though its location cannot be verified today. The assay office remained intact until a few decades ago when it was purchased by an advanced gold rush collector, and most of its contents are now at the Oakland Museum. Uncirculated. $150.
Unissued receipt for gold dust for assay. Uncirculated. $150.
Unissued receipt for gold dust for assay. Uncirculated. $150.
Unissued receipt for gold dust for assay. Uncirculated. $150.
Unissued receipt for gold dust for assay. Uncirculated. $150.
Unissued receipt for gold dust for assay. Uncirculated. $300.
Certificate of assay for sample bullion. Rare assay certificate for short lived assayer in the heart of the northern Mother Lode country. Fine. $75.
Original Britton and Rey et. al. lithograph produced from a Daguerreotype by Kilbourn published by A. W. Potter, Miner's Bookstore, Main St. Nevada City. This Extremely Rare view with perhaps one other known copy has been professionally repaired along two vertical folds. The Adams & Co. office is prominently shown in the front center. The view has been reproduced various times from 1852 to 1855. This is the earliest known representation. Very Fine. $5,000.
Three original 1870’s Hydraulic Mining Photographs by Watkins. “Hydraulic Mining Piping, Watkins' New Boudoir Series Yosemite and Pacific Coast” This remarkable trio has an original large matted photo 5.25 x 8.5” with a very clear, sharp, bold image of a large scale hydraulic mining pit in Nevada County, possibly near the old mining camp of Washington. The accompanying two CDVs are exact pieces of the larger photograph emphasizing different aspects of the hydraulic mining process. For example, one of the CDVs has a shot of a nozzle spraying water from right to left, and the other CDV shows the portion of the larger photograph with an elevated long tom sluice box and a miner controlling the hydraulic nozzle blasting the hillside. Watkins would have sold a number of these smaller CDVs to tourists and other interested parties who visited his San Francisco Gallery. The larger view is particularly crisp and sharp and may not have been subsequently published. Extremely Fine. Three photographs $2,700. Sold
2 x .75 x .5” ingot containing 4.09 troy ounces of silver. This is a distinctive trapezoidal ingot. This Unique commemorative silver ingot is from the Yuba Mine 1897. The Yuba mine is on the south Yuba River three miles above the mining camp of Washington. The Mine was found perhaps as early as the 1850's but major development did not take place until the 1880's. By 1887 an 1,100 foot long tunnel exposing 800 feet of the vein had been driven along with a 600 foot winze sunk down on the dip of the vein. Clean white quartz contained native gold with pyrite and some zinc minerals. The company had a 15 stamp mill and the ore was worth an average of $8 a ton in the late 1880's . [Ireland; 8th Annual Report of the State Mineralogist 1888 pp 435-6] This ingot is probably a byproduct of the silver-zinc minerals associated with the gold, and may commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the new period of mining. $14,500.
Assayer's Business Card probably dated 1900-1920 period. This firm was in business during the 1860’s. No ingots are known. Very Fine. $75.
Wells, Fargo & Co. exchange receipt #78439. Endorsed to McWilliams & Tymeson, Agents. Datelined Oroville, California, April 17, 1857. The value is either $50 or $500. This is an Extremely Rare certificate being the only example we have ever seen at Holabird-Kagin. Slight chipping, folds, trimmed tight at left. No photograph. $300.
No.12 Stock certificate for 6333 shares issued to Henry Allen, trustee. Signed W.H. Allen (same person). Also signed by W. August Knapp as Secretary, Printed by Harrison, San Francisco. This important, rare certificate, the first we have seen for both the company and the mining district, is from Palm Springs in San Bernardino County. The company was formed by one of the great Nevada mining promoters, Mr. Buell and partners, according to Raymond in 1874. Not much is known of the mine or the district but obviously the associated mining camp later became one of the most important desert communities in California. Many folds, clean, Fine. $575.
This lot consists of a pair of gold rush era receipts from Auburn, the Placer County seat. Auburn is located in the heart of the central Mother Lode region. Payment to Matt Finley for $43.50 for jury duty and Wm. Turner for $48.00 signed by Deputy N.A. Johnson and Clerk Mitchell. Scarce. Retains nice bright red ink on blue paper. Extremely Fine. $150.
No.1095 Memorandum of Gold Bullion Deposited. This assay and bullion receipt is from C. J. Arvidsson’s Assay Office in Placerville, February 28, 1868 to C. M. McQuire for a 19.75 ounce bar .845 fine gold. Signed by C. J. Arvidsson. Printed on darker blue paper with black ink, datelined Placerville 185x and used late into the 1860’s. Extremely rare, only one known to us in thirty plus years. Arvidsson came to the central gold rush mining camp of Placerville in 1851 from Stockholm, Sweden via Panama. After a brief stint as a carpenter, he worked as an assayer and silversmith. He did so well immediately, that he convinced his brother Arvid to join him. The pair immediately started in business as assayers, and helped mine owners with the design of mine equipment patterns for goods to be made at the local Morey foundry, probably including bullion moulds. When Placerville burned in 1856, the brothers erected a new building that some twenty years later housed the Tracy Shoe store, among other businesses. The brothers opened a jewelry store to complement the assay business, a natural expansion for two brothers who saw and handled native gold specimens in quartz daily that was submitted to them for assay. This beautiful rock made splendid jewelry, and the Arvidssons became a good place for miners to sell specimen quality gold in quartz. CJ was a man from the “old school”, and married a young lady from Maine in a “mail order” wedding. The couple had a successful and happy marriage by all accounts. Arvidsson played an important ancillary role in the California gold assayer business. In 1855, Arvidsson was a minor partner with John Agrell. The pair had a third partner in the firm Agrell , Arvidsson & Co., P. Strettiz. That group dissolved their partnership in April, 1855, perhaps with the coincidental arrival of CJ Arvidsson’s brother, and Agrell immediately went into partnership with Gorham Blake, known as Blake & Agrell. Arvidsson and his brother continued with their own assay office and jewelry store, making some of the finest “California Jewelry”, most likely utilizing the gold in quartz so well known to local miners. This assay receipt is thus another of the many ties to California coiners and assayers. Very Fine. $3,500. Sold
Check No.244 Payable to C. Lee for $200 on the account of G. D. Goodwin of Quincy and signed by J.D. Goodwin. Extremely rare imprinted revenue. Very Fine. $75. Sold
Bar 369. This is a bullion assay for the famous Yellow Aster Mining Company in Randsburg, San Bernardino and Kern Counties. Dated Feb 1904 for a 499 oz ingot of .795 fine gold and .187 fine silver signed by the Assayer W.A. McCombs. Yellow Aster was easily the largest and richest of the southern California gold mines. The company was managed by John Singleton, though the business aspects were managed by a woman, Mrs. Rose Burcham, who ruled the company’s finances with a steel fist. She was so successful that she upset all the competitors because she would not cut friendly deals for stock and made the original founders millions. $150.
Lot of four Yellow Aster Mining Company stock certificates #10, 16, 29 & 33 issued to the founders of the Yellow Aster Mining Company, John Singleton, John Miller, F. Moores and Rose Burcham. Each is signed by the Issuee and Burcham and Singleton. Dated 1897 and 1898. Extremely rare. Of additional note, the stocks have an embossed gold seal with vignette of a yellow aster in the center. All Very Fine condition. $1,000. Sold
Two piece lot from the Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Co. at Randsburg, California. The Yellow Aster was the largest gold mine in southern California. The first is an assay receipt for bar #363 weighing 568 oz. The second piece is a Memorandum of Gold Bullion Deposited at the San Francisco Mint on 01/27/1904 for the same exact bullion bar sent from the Yellow Aster and noted as such on the San Francisco Mint receipt. Both are in Very Fine condition. $400.
Red printed Wells Fargo Express receipt for J.M. Nelstorm who sent one bag containing 22 oz of gold dust to the U.S. Mint in SF. This receipt is from the Rattlesnake Bar in California for $22 with instructions to “forward to San Francisco for coinage and send the returns to S.M. Nelstrom at Rattlesnake.” The receipt is signed Baldwin & Co. (unknown if related to the California Gold Coiners of the same name). Rattlesnake was the first name for the Sierra County Gold Camp later known as LaPorte. Sierra County was one of the richest gold districts in the northern Mother Lode country. LaPorte contained a portion of the original “Blue Lead” and a fortune in Placer gold from that tertiary channel was mined. Very Fine. $1,000.
This is a detailed letter regarding the invention of the Arastra and patents, written by Loresh. Fine. $250.
Enormous fire on Sacramento’s Front Street, showing people, barrels and boxes on the levee in the foreground with J & K Streets at center, left to right. This view is from before Blake started doing business. Flames are shown reaching high into the sky. Lithograph illustration measures 8 ¼” x10 ½.” Trimmed tight at right with some slight creasing. Very Good. $1,450.
Blake and Waters were in business in Sacramento beginning in 1855. D.O. Mills, whose name appears on many of the Blake receipts in this catalog, came to the gold rush from New York, and after trying mining and selling merchandise to miners he opened a bank in Sacramento making a fortune buying gold. He sold his bank in 1862 and became president of William Ralston's Bank of California. After Ralston's suicide following a bank panic in 1875, Mills pledged his entire fortune to restore the Bank of California. In 1878, once confidence was restored in the bank, he retired to his home in New York. The City of Millbrae was the site of his family estate, and today the San Francisco Airport is built on land he owned.
For an extended history of the Blake cousins, please see the Blake ingot story under Unionville, Nevada Section.
No. 9710 Certificate of Gold, deposited by D. O. Mills & Co. This receipt is printed in black ink on thin buff colored paper and measures 8 1/8 x 7 ½.” It has a somewhat fancy vignette as far gold deposit or assay receipts are concerned. Below the company’s name, which is curved at the top of the page, is a vignette of an equal arm balance scale held by a hand that is extending below a cloud with the rays of the sun in the background. The printer’s name is not known. This receipt is for “Mixed Dust.” Weight before melting: 175.87 oz. After melting: 169.69 oz. Fineness: .892, Value per oz: $18.43. Clippings: $11.05. Net amount after all costs and fees: $3,125.26. Very Fine condition with normal folds and foxing. Extremely Rare R7. $4,500.
No. 9853 Certificate of Gold, deposited by D. O. Mills & Co. This receipt’s design and layout are the same as the preceding Blake receipt. Mixed dust: Weight before melting 110.70 oz, After melting 106.49 oz, Fineness .879, Value per oz $18.17, Net amount after all costs and fees $1,928.50. The names of Forrest Hill merchants Hardy and Kennedy are penciled in at bottom left. This receipt is in Very Fine condition with typical “pocket” folds and foxing R7. $4.500. Sold
No.9871 Assay receipt with G. Blake and W.R. Waters on letterhead. Certificate for gold deposited by D. O. Mills & Co. totaling $1059.48. Signed by D.O. Mills & Co in D.O. Mill's own handwriting. This Extremely Rare assay certificate is from the Hardy and Kennedy archive hoard that produced so many of the known Kellogg & Humbert assay receipts. It is arguably one of the great California assay receipts, because it is directly related to the Blake Sacramento ingots that were found on the wrecked S.S. Central America. It is one of only approximately five known Blake & Company bullion receipts, and there are approximately three others in an identical format with Blake's partner Waters name inserted in the masthead showing Assay Office of Waters & Company. R7. Very Good condition. $4,500. Sold
This remarkable letter from the early days of the gold rush involves a bill of exchange drawn by William Waddell payable to the order of William H. Russell, by Joseph L. Waddell of Sacramento City, for the sum of $2500. This is an important document relating to two of the founders of the Pony Express datelined Sacramento, CA 1852. This is a one page, signed and notarized letter dated October 11, 1852 from Sacramento City. It was originally dated at Lexington, Missouri 8/6/1852, endorsed by Russell Waddell and Bankers Page & Bacon. The letter notes that Page & Bacon made a thorough search in an attempt to locate Mr. Waddell of Sacramento but were unable to find him and were notified he had left the state “Gone to parts unknown”. Page & Bacon, the holders of the exchange, sent this letter to William W. Waddell in Lexington, Missouri as a demand for payment. The letter is generally pristine. Russell, Majors & Waddell formed the famous western shipping firm known as the Pony Express, which terminated at Sacramento City. The Waddell family was based in Missouri and operated an active freight company there. Russell and Waddell also had an express related to the Colorado Gold Rush about 1860, known as the Pike’s Peak Express. This letter may be the only remnant document from original members of this trio involving Sacramento, and clearly illustrates the pairs' involvement in the California Gold Rush. $4,500.
Original archive of William Waddell and William Russelll of the famous Pony Express and Pikes Peak Express. This archive contains more than 110 pieces of receipts, letters and legal documents of Waddell and Russell, as well as other members of Waddell's family. Most of these documents were executed in Lexington, Missouri, their home between 1838 and 1870. The majority are dated during the Westward Expansion Period, as you might expect which took place from the late 1840's through the 1860’s. This is not part of the Russell, Majors and Waddell archive that we sold about five years ago. Russell was a wealthy businessman who engaged in numerous freighting businesses. His friend and partner William Waddell invested in many of his businesses. This archive shows the high degree to which Waddell conducted business in and around Lexington where he loaned money to individuals, businesses, and rented properties. He bought collateral notes from others, acting as a banker. Both Russell & Waddell purchased a lot of property, and one of these documents reflects a lawsuit against the two in 1870 because they did not convey title on a property they sold in a timely manner. Needless to say, the pair was probably engaged heavily in the express business during the 1860’s, which itself may have led to this suit. Documents from California and Colorado in this archive have been separated in this catalog. The content of this archive is rather remarkable, stretching from deeds for property with and without slaves, receipts for slave clothing, loans for money, receipts for taxes paid on early land lots, etc. At least half the documents are signed by Waddell. As such, each of the signed documents represents a significant Pony Express autographed piece. However we feel it would be a historically detrimental to break this archive up, other than separating the California and Colorado pieces. Generally Fine. $12,500.
Check drawn on Rhodes & Co. Bankers in Shasta to Lowden & Co, signed by their agent D. C. Haycraft. Lowden was a well-known Pony Express Rider, mineral surveyor, and active businessman in the Weaverville-Trinity-Shasta gold regions. He was the fist to make an attempt to climb Mt. Shasta in 1850, though he was then unsuccessful. No photograph. $300.
This $10 note is No. 250 and measures 7.25 x 3”. It is lithographed blue ink with red safety print of the denomination. The center vignette is a classic western stage coach scene, with a coach surrounded by protective pony riders with Indians looking on from a nearby hillside. The bottom right corner has a vignette of a maiden with a Billy goat and the bottom left has a vignette of two cherubs carrying a fruit basket. This note is signed by John Brown as Secretary and Peter Funk as Contractor.
Notes are known from both Sacramento and Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City series notes are dated 1859 by George Chorpenning as Contractor, according to a Stack’s Cataloguer from the Ford Sale in October 2007. The Ford $50 note is dated 1863.
The California Salt Lake Mail line was the brainchild of George Chorpenning. George W. Chorpenning, Jr. was born in Pennsylvania in 1820, the son of a county judge. He traveled to California in 1850 in search of gold, but quickly realized he would more likely make a fortune delivering mail from the miners via an overland route. Chorpenning lobbied the Federal Government for a contract to carry mail between Sacramento and Salt Lake City, the most dangerous and difficult leg of the overland route, and was awarded the U.S. Postal contract in 1851.Chorpenning and Absolom Woodward were not well financed, according to Bancroft (History of California), but the pair laid out and and established a series of way stations through the remote region of Nevada, connecting with a Salt Lake City mail line that Samuel H. Woodson had established from Missouri to Utah. Chorpenning & Woodward thus established a portion of the route that was later used by the Pony Express, though much of that information has not been passed down by modern historians.
The California line took a month for letters to get from Sacramento to Salt Lake City and another month in from Salt Lake City to Missouri. There was no passenger service, and long isolated sections were run by a single rider or team. Chorpenning’s partner, Absolam Woodward was killed by Indians along the Humboldt River in Central Nevada during his first trip across Nevada, which seriously hurt the operation. “One cannot but admire the courage of these pioneer mail carriers, who, all alone in Indian country, in all kinds of weather, trudged ever forward with their tired teams,” wrote Oscar Winther in Via Western Express and Stagecoach (1945).
Chorpenning renewed his contract in 1854 and again in 1858, this time with added stagecoach service. There was also a change in route, and apparently the new route was from Placerville to Salt Lake City.
When James Simpson came through Nevada on an exploratory route looking for a shorter trail for miners and emigrants in 1859, he established a route that cut off a full hundred miles from the Chorpenning route. This new route later became a shortcut for the Pony Express.
Meanwhile, the long, slow movement of the mail between Sacramento and Salt Lake City became a concern, and soon rival express companies were lobbying the Federal Government for new contracts. In 1857 a contract was awarded to the Butterfield’s Overland Mail, which ran over a southern route in direct competition with Chorpenning’s northern route.
Russell, Majors and Waddell had taken over the Missouri to Salt Lake City U. S. Mail contract and also established a successful express route to the Colorado gold fields from the east, known as the Pikes Peak Express. Russell had met with California Senator Gwin in Washington at San Franciscan businessman Broederick’s suggestion, and urged Russell to start a new line over Simpson’s shorter route that would greatly speed up the mail. It was known as the “central route.” Broederick had met Chorpenning in 1858 in eastern Nevada while en route to Salt Lake City on the California line. Russell and partners did not think the line would pay for itself, but proceeded to establish the new way stations. Gwin was at odds with his southern Congressmen and Senators who had awarded the Butterfield Overland deal. Gwin was successful in getting the Chorpenning U. S. Mail contract nullified, and handed over a new U. S. mail contract for the central route to Russell, Majors and Waddell in 1860, which became known as the Pony Express.
The national politics behind the various express and mail lines were enormous. New Yorkers were at complete odds with Californians on where the route across America should lie. Southern politicians swayed the New Yorkers into thinking the Butterfield Southern Route was the best, though Californians knew the shortest route was ultimately the Simpson (Central) route. During this period of intense debate, much of which was covered by national newspapers, 60,000 Californians signed a petition requesting the immediate construction of a wagon road from Missouri to California. Westerners figured that since the Fed had pitched in $3 million to assist steamer travel from the East to California, it made as much sense to construct a wagon road to assist in land travel. Californians also argued that the fed had spearheaded an effort to kill the Central Route by charging ten cents for mail from Placerville to Salt Lake City, while charging only three cents for mail carried on the southern Butterfield route! [Alta California October 22, 1858]
Chorpenning continued his coach and mail service, though he lost the valuable US Mail contract. He struggled until the competition and costs ultimately forced closure of the line, probably coincidental with the Pony Express. A telegraph line was built at the same time as the pony Express, which added to the competition Chorpenning faced. Little has been written on the latter days of his express and mail service. He returned to Maryland by 1861 where he was involved with organizing soldiers for the Civil War. He fought a long legal battle with another arm of the Government over payment of his western express services while he held the U. S. Mail contracts. He fought and lost another legal battle in Placerville, where a competitor was awarded $30,000 for breach of contract. [12/18/1860 Alta California] Chorpenning’s obituary, printed by the Somerset Herald in his hometown in Pennsylvania, labeled him “the First Man to Carry the Mails Across the Continent”.
The author knows of at least five of these notes, though the denominations and dates are presently unknown. This note is probably among the top two in overall condition, with the possible exception of the tightly clipped upper right border and fold ware at center. It should be noted that the $50 note in Ford Sale was also tightly clipped at the top upper right border. The colors in this note and the Ford note are particularly sharp and crisp while some of the other notes show more oxidation.
Now lets discuss these notes. No mention of them or their use was found in the historical record, though more work is necessary, particularly through research in the Sacramento Union, not yet online. From the appearance of the “issue” dates seen on the Ford example and this example, along with the Stack’s cataloger’s note that the Salt Lake dateline notes were issued in 1859, the following can be surmised: 1) Both Sacramento notes were “issued” after Chorpenning’s point of origin appeared to have changed from Sacramento to Placerville. 2) The 1861 Sacramento note was issued after the Pony Express contract was awarded, perhaps somewhat fraudulently, since the line was likely no longer in operation, or in its last days of operation, as evidenced by an article in the Alta California December 18, 1860, in which the California line was regarded as “late contractor on the Overland Mail” 3) the Ford example, dated 1863 without specific month and day, was “issued” so late that its issuance at all is called into question 4) the fact that Chorpenning was fighting the Government over payment for his services is a known fact. He may have thus attempted the use of this scrip as payment for debts dependent upon payment to him from the Fed. 5) Further, who are these people who signed these notes? Are they the leftovers of Chorpenning’s operation in Sacramento? There is certainly a lot more to be learned by the investigation into the history of this pioneer company. Meanwhile, these are certainly among the most beautiful of all the California gold rush currency.
Ref: Wikipedia On Line, Bancroft, History of California, 1890, v7, pp264-5; Winther, Via Western Express & Stagecoach, 1945; Mason, The Pony Express in Nevada, 1976; Simpson, Report of Explorations Across the Great Basin in 1859, reprint 1983; Reinfeld, Pony Express, 1966;] Good condition. $42,500
Please see Nevada. Overland Stage and Express Agent’s (Supplier) Personal Log Book 1860-1863 for a related lot.
1859 receipt and letter datelined Sacramento. This receipt and attached letter are for goods delivered by Strobridge and Collins who were boot and shoe dealers in Sacramento to Samuel Cunningham. Unfortunately, Cunningham died immediately after receipt of the goods and this letter concerns payment from his estate. Fine. $200.
Teschemacher & Company handwritten, two page reconciliation of gold dust transactions by Representative, Joseph Grant. This receipt details fourteen separate shipments of gold dust sent by Sacramento Merchant Joseph Grant to Teschemacher & Company in San Francisco. Teschemacher was an early resident of California arriving about 1842. He owned lots in San Francisco as early as 1846 and was later Mayor of San Francisco and a prominent merchant. Bancroft said, “I have a few of his early letters, but for so prominent a pioneer there is a remarkable lack of information about him.” Joseph Grant may be the same J.Grant, Merchant of San Francisco who was burned out in a fire. This is an Extremely Rare gold rush piece with some creasing, but in otherwise Very Fine. [Ref: Bancroft, History of California Vol XXII pg 745] $1,250.
Mercury Cyanide test on ore from the Mossback Mine, located in Gold Road, Arizona. Fine. $75.
No.17075 Assay of rock deposited by J. Bigler. This important business card sized assay report acted as a business card as well for Water's & Company of Sacramento. Waters was Goram Blake's partner and the original name of the firm was Blake & Co., made famous due to the recovery of S.S. Central America ingots of the same name. The company is advertising on one side, which is very business card-like, with receipt of rock for assay and assay results with values on the other. Fine. $3,500. Sold
This Unique and appealing medal reads: Agricultural and Horticultural Fair/(Seal with floral border)Awarded to (not engraved)/Ball, Black & Co. N.Y./Sacramento City//Designed Arranged and Prizes Presented By Warren & Son/(Allegorical figures of a man presenting flowers to a woman)/F.B. Smith & Hartmann. F/Sept R 18/Sacramento City Cal. White Metal. 50.8mm, 1,041.9 gns.
James, L.L. F. Warren, a successful Boston area horticulturist and businessman who migrated to California in 1849, has been referred to as the “Father of California Agriculture.” This great horticulturalist was committed to human and societal improvement with journalistic, educational, political, diplomatic and philanthropic contributions throughout his lifetime. He was even enlisted by the State Department for two years to assist with international agricultural problems including the Ireland Potato Famine.
Upon his return to the states, when mostly unmarried “Forty Niners” began migrating to the gold fields of California, so did 44 year old married father of several children, James Warren, as the business manager of Sweden Mining Company. Unfortunately the company quickly failed due to employed miners reneging on the agreement to work in exchange for passage to California and leaving to seek their gold fortune independently. Undeterred, Warren quickly established a letter carrying service, and in November 1849 founded the general provisioning firm of Warren & Company in Sacramento.
By 1852 Warren's store had become so important to the state's expanding agricultural economy that it became the site of the first California State Fair. However, in 1853 he moved to San Francisco and thereafter operated the enterprise in association with his son, John Quincy Adams Warren. Historian Walton Bean wrote of Warren's many contributions to California agriculture: “One of the greatest needs of the frontier state's slowly and clumsily developing agriculture was the introduction and adaptation of new crops, and it was here that Warren rendered one of the greatest of his services. His office served as a clearinghouse for the exchange of information, specimens, and seeds, not merely within California, but with other parts of the United States, South America, and the Orient.”[Ref: Article by Dr. William P. Marchione, “James L.L. F. Warren: 'Father of California Agriculture'“, Brighton Allston Historical Society website] Choice. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. Extremely Fine. $750.
This Directory has original binding and boards. It originally belonged to the Sacramento Sheriff's Office. 322 pages; the front page has been trimmed at the right and page 35 has an article cut out of it, which was the County Officers Fleet, or something similar. The directory is rare. The front is the usual alphabetical listing of residents. Ads are scattered throughout, followed by a business directory and a township directory makes up the final part of the directory. Extremely Fine for a directory. No photograph. $2,250. Sold
Two volumes. Original store ledgers for Youngs Kibbe General Merchandisers, one of the largest general merchandise outfits in Sacramento in the beginning of the Gold Rush. The boards of these ledgers, once fresh leather, are now heavily worn and loose. The pages are all intact and legible, with little or no damage other than by the scribe himself. The store began perhaps sometime in 1850, which was about the same time the city itself was born. Young's and Kibbe are listed in the first Sacramento Directory, and again in the 1853-4 Directory (both reprinted). The ledgers contain the names of many of the early elite, including E.J. (Lucky) Baldwin, who was a partner in the mining company known as the Eagle Tunnel Company. The first volume contains 235 pages and the second 179 pages. On these pages are more than several hundred names and company names.The National Hotel Co and the Southern House are the names of two. Mines include the Keystone Tunnel Co., the Great Western Tunnel Co., and the Washington Quartz Co.. Famous names such as Sutter, Hoard, Judson, and Hunter adorn the ledgers, while such notables as George Hearst are not present. Entries from out of town are also notable: Carson Valley in (Nevada) Utah Territory as well as companies from Marysville, Dobbins, Centreville (Nevada County) are but a few. These ledgers contain not only the individual accounts, but the day to day cash sales. A careful study of the very hectic first days of the city. No photograph. $5,500. Sold
[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">.