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S.S. Central
America Gold Ingots Pace Heritage
By CoinLink All four gold ingots
from the S.S.Central America made the Top 10
list in the auction results from Heritages Long
Beach Signature Sale.
The top performer was the 55.05-Ounce Harris
Marchand Gold Ingot. Recovered from the S.S.
Central America. CAGB-135, serial number 6526.
55.05 ounces, 875 fineness, stamped value
$995.73. Sold For $172,500
From Q. David Bowers, A California Gold Rush
History: “Large size ingot. All inscriptions on
face with bar horizontally oriented. $ leans
sharply left. Reverse finessed or dressed by
tapping.”
Though the firm Harris, Marchand & Co. did not
last into June 1857, the gold bars stamped that
way did, and three dozen bars from the
Sacramento office received an unexpected gift of
numismatic immortality: they were loaded onto
the S.S. Central America, and instead of going
to New York to be melted down, they landed at
the bottom of the ocean, and over the course of
more than a century, they transformed into
historic treasures.
Like the majority of known Harris, Marchand &
Co. ingots, this example shows irregular
punching on the serial number, weight, fineness,
and value. The arcing HARRIS MARCHAND & CO
imprint and circular MARCHAND / ESSAYEUR stamp,
however, are precise and elegant as ever.
The runner-up was the 48.65 Ounce Kellogg &
Humbert Gold Ingot. Kellogg & Humbert Assayers,
serial number 947, 48.65 oz, 780 fineness,
$784.43 face value. Medium to large size, per
the classification system by Q. David Bowers in
his A California Gold Rush History. Sold for
$103,500
Bowers devotes a solid paragraph to the unusual
characteristics of this ingot (italics his):
“Inscriptions on face. 48 in weight double
punched. Fineness first punched as 87, then
corrected to 78 ($784.42), with erroneous under
digits still visible. $ sign high, leans right,
and touches upper left of 7. Vertically
oriented. Reverse stamped with repetition of
serial number, but in different font. One of the
most amateurishly punched of the many Kellogg &
Humbert ingots.”
The top face also shows numerous air bubbles and
weakness on the “Kellogg & Humbert Assayers”
stamp. Bowers does allow, however, that the S.S.
Central America ingots’ individuality is core to
their appeal, noting that “[s]uch idiosyncrasies
make them fascinating to study.”
Beyond the air bubbles, this ingot has a
distinctive overall appearance. While most
ingots show a measure of rust staining on one or
more faces, this pieces’ surfaces are bright
yellow, with evidence of rust and other dark
stains virtually nil. There is a milky area is
present over the “78″ of 780 FINE. Corner cuts
are visible at the bottom right corner of the
top face (relative to the punches) and its
diagonal opposite on the bottom face. In sum, an
attractive and distinctive example of the
medium-to-large class of Kellogg & Humbert gold
ingots found on the S.S. Central America. The
ingot measures 42 x 98 x 22 mm
The third highest performer was the 38.76 Ounce
Kellogg & Humbert Gold Ingot. CAGB-635. Mold
K&H-02, Sold for $97,750.00
Recovered from the S.S. Central America,
information on the top face: No. 838 / 38.76 oz.
/ 892 fine / $714.70 (in 1857 value). Bowers
notes the ingot’s unusual dimensions, calling it
“Thick, almost cubic.” On this small and compact
ingot, the assayer’s imprint is visible on the
north face relative to the main information,
while the bottom face repeats the serial number
just above a prominent hollow from the
ingot-making process. Corner-cuts are at the
bottom right of the information face and its
exact opposite. Medium size, falling just below
the 40-ounce cutoff for medium-to-large set by
Bowers.
Recent Heritage auctions have brought a number
of sizable S.S. Central America gold ingots to
the market, including several massive ingots
weighing in at over 100 ounces in the recent
January 2010 FUN Auction. On the other hand,
smaller ingots such as this Kellogg & Humbert
example or the 23-ounce Justh & Hunter ingot
also in this catalog also have an esteemed place
in the collecting community, providing
opportunities for Old West enthusiasts with a
passion for assayer ingots but not necessarily
the desire to own a massive “brick” of
California gold. This Kellogg & Humbert
representative, though small enough to rest on
the palm of one’s hand, is weighty atop it–and
the weight of its history is even greater.
The final example was a Justh & Hunter Gold
Ingot. CAGB-352 which Sold for $74,750
Q. David Bowers, in his A California Gold Rush
History, offers general notes about the Justh &
Hunter ingots recovered from the S.S. Central
America, including two key observations. First,
“Surfaces often irregular, particularly on the
reverse.” Second, “Some ingots from San
Francisco [assay office] have part of the serial
number, the last two digits, repeated on the
reverse.”
Both are true in the case of this ingot, a small
to medium-sized example in the Bowers scale.
All faces show considerable irregularities, with
the top face surprising by showing the most
irregularities of all. Through the valleys, the
punched information from top to bottom: NO. 4341
/ [arcing Justh & Hunter imprint] / 23.00 OZ /
890 FINE. / $423.15 [in 1857 terms].
Corner cuts at the upper right of the top face
and its diagonal opposite; both corner cuts show
rust stains, as does the bottom face, in and
near the hollow from the ingot-casting process.
This rust is prone to flaking, and appears to
have done so within the plastic holder. As noted
above, the digits 41 appear at the upper right
part of the bottom face, a San Francisco office
characteristic for Justh & Hunter ingots. The
ingot measures 43 x 61 x 16 mm.
At just 23 ounces, this ingot is accessible to a
variety of collectors and researchers, and the
Justh & Hunter imprint also falls in a “sweet
spot” of sorts, not so elusive as to be
inaccessible, but at the same time it is not so
broadly available as the Kellogg & Humbert
ingots. In sum, it is a prize for the tasteful
California gold collector. |