Q. David Bowers, in Appendix IV of the enormous A California Gold Rush History, enumerates all of the ingots recovered from the S.S. Central America, both by assayer and serial number as marked on the ingots, and by assayer and weight. The assayers represented include:
–Blake & Co. Opened in 1855, based in Sacramento, California. Only 34 ingots from this company were recovered. The company’s ingots have beveled edges and may have seen limited circulation in California.
–Harris, Marchand & Co. Operated two offices, one in Sacramento (founded 1855) and a second in Marysville, California (opened in 1856). All of their bars have a circular coin-shaped counterstamp on the front. One unique bar is known from the Marysville office. Total bars recovered: 37.
–Henry Hentsch. Hentsch, a native of Switzerland with many business connections, opened his assay office in February 1856 next door to his bank. The Guide Book speculates that many of his ingots were likely exported to Europe. Ingots recovered: 33.
–Justh & Hunter. Opened San Francisco assay office in 1855 and Marysville office in 1856, remaining in business through 1858. Ingots recovered: 86 (60 in the 4,000 series ascribed to San Francisco; 26 in the 9,000 series attributed to Marysville).
–Kellogg & Humbert The most well-known names in the coinage of California gold coins–and ingots, after the S.S. Central America recovery. That they escaped the scandals exposed by James King of William for underweight coinage gave their products currency and credibility, and as expected, their ingots constituted the majority found aboard the ship. Ingots recovered: 346, ranging in gross weight from less than 6 ounces to 934 ounces.
The incredible Bowers volume is as much an essential part of the legacy of the S.S. Central America recovery as the gold coins and ingots themselves. The largest bar recovered from the S.S. Central America is dubbed the “Eureka” bar. Weighing 933.94 ounces (almost 78 pounds) of .903 fine gold with a nominal value in 1857 of $17,433.57, that single bar contained more gold than all of the California gold ingots of the period that were known–combined–before the treasure recovery.
Bowers classifies this as a “medium to large size ingot,” those weighing 40 to 55 ounces. The bar is now bright yellow-gold, unsurprising considering the high-purity gold it contains. It has clearly been conserved to remove the dark purple-brown patina that many of the SSCA ingots displayed, as the plate on page 433 of the Bowers reference shows the same ingot beforehand. Another memorable ingot that demonstrates the enormous calamity that was the foundering of the S.S. Central America, this piece weighs more than 3.5 pounds and contains almost 40 ounces of pure gold.
Source: coinlink.com
