Gaspar to Buttrey

5 Pages·1999·0.58 MB·English

by  Eric P. Newman

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August 16, 1999 "Enriching coin collecting through knowledge”
SS Central America gold at auction Dec. 8-9
Collectors to get first look at insurer’s 8% share in exhibit at August ANA convention
By Paul dikes founded and
COIN WORLD Staff When CADG,
Treasure salvaged from one of the greatest maritime disas¬ and representatives
ters of the 19th century - the 1857 shipwreck of the steamship insurers secretly divided,
SS Central America off the South Carolina coast - is finally treasure salvaged
coming to market June 17, 1998,
More than 400 pounds of gold bars and ingots, pioneer gold the percentages
coins and federally issued US. coins, gold dust and nuggets the court in 1996, the
are scheduled to be sold Dec. 8-9 by Sotheby’s auction house sion was made by lots, not
in New York. The consignment represents the 8 percent individual coin, bar
awarded by the courts to the insurers from treasure salvaged nugget.
thus far. The SS Central America was bound to New York During the secret division,
from the Panama Isthmus, where it picked up passengers and at a warehouse in Chesa¬
cargo who crossed overland after a sea voyage from San Fran¬ peake, Va„ Columbus-Amer- THIS GOLD assay bar
cisco. Aboard the Central America were many coins from the ica split the recovered trea¬ is produced by Blake &
San Francisco Mint and west coast private Mints, as well as sure into 90 lots of equal vak - - Co.
coins struck at the U.S. Branch Mints at New Orleans, Char¬ ue, with attorneys for both ,
lotte, N.C., and Dahlonega, Ga. groups of owners taking turns selecting lots.
Collectors and the public will get the first glimpse of the The location of the shipwreck nearly two miles down at the
treasure when the coins, bars and other items are displayed bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, was pinpointed in 1987, with
Aug. 11-15 during the American Numismatic Association’s much of the salvage done beginning in 1989 and subsequent
108th Anniversary Convention at the Rosemont Convention years. The roughly three tons of the projected 21 tons of gold
iCncOluIdNeS f eFdeOraUl NanDd pabioonaerder tihsesu Cese.n tral America Ctfpauaetssinvtt t eet1sir0m a iynen ed aRa ncroysos oucenromte no ocofnetfthri,cne iiIranl lltg.sh, aioannw v Ctnohhelevir csepahdrgii npionc ositphufae btl.husleer ab gtn.ar delT a bhtshaiustetr ilewre srwi elolpi lvrblee ehsr e atthnvh¬eee bsuabrsj,e ccto oinfs ,l itdiguastt ioann ds iinncgePo lttseh eaa slfreier assdet yeo frG etOchoeL vrDeer ceSodvH ehIraPesd P bmeaegenae s tu2hr0ee
the opportunity to examine the gold.
After the ANA exhibition, Sotheby’s plans to take the trea¬
sure on the road in late October for exhibitions in Los Ange¬
les, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago and London.
Sotheby^ estimates the insurer’s portion of the treasure to be
worth between S7 million and $10 million.
All of the material to be offered by Sotheby’s will be
sold raw, with none of the U.S. or pioneer gold coins
to be certified by a grading service, according to
Paul Song, vice president of Sotheby ’s Coin,
Medals and Banknote Department.
; , Jtis impossible to extrapolate what
constitutes the remaining 92 percent Unique 1944 tombac
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SofE iLteEmCs TreIOcoNve roefd t.h (eIm gaogleds fcroomur ttehsety C oefn tSraolt hAembyer'sic.)a shows the variety ATmhoemriacsa ThDomiscposovne,r yth e GCrooluupm buhse- 8fo.0u0n0d . wLeearren smtrourcek aabnodu ti sthsuise dm, yjustsetr ioonues cpoieinc eo nh aPsa gbee e3n.
INSIDE this week Departments tartrate ;-3
New Notes.91
Columns Aowrasirq rbies. Shoeing By Mail.66
30 Show Calendar.92
ov oe/aw Teooen .38 Ciassitiea Acs. Subscription Into.112
y Micneie Crzano.. ..26 EiStonal. TTrreennddss VVaalluueess
Guest Commentary
GOLD SHIP from F 9 1 according to Sotheby’s. Song said the total were reeling from the failure of the Ohio
includes approximately 80 to 90 1857-S Life Insurance and Trust Company. From
broke the ocean's surface. rf rather more limited double eagles and at least a dozen 1856-S August to mid-September, the run un the
Thompson believes of the 18 tons pur¬ double eagles, ranging from About Uncir¬ banks had required them to pay out more
ported still to be recovered lies a secret 15- Among the coins retrieved from the culated to the upper Mint States grades, than 20 percent of their gold reserves. The
ton government gold shipment. wreckage of the SS Central America are Song said. news of the SS Central America 's loss
The marketing of the 92 percent of the more than a dozen such pieces; all were Possibly the finest known 1856-S Coro¬ compounded the financial catastrophe,
treasure owned by Columbus-America struck by well known issuers of the period net quarter eagle, a “superb gem," accord¬ and set off The Panic of 1857.
and Thompson is being blocked by litiga¬ and a few of these, struck by the United ing to Song, and the only quarter eagle The treasure had been insured, and the
tion filed by CADG investors against States Assay Office of Gold (USAOG) are being offered, is included. losses paid for. An 1857 ledger entry in
Thompson; a S3 million bank judgment quasi-official coins. Song indicates the There are 13 $5 gold half eagles, ranging the New York’s Atlantic Mutual Insurance
against Thompson and .CADQ involving coins range in condition from Fine .to in grade from AU to upper Mint State con-,. Company’s,.“disaster logs," indicates that
default on a loan to the group by Califor¬ Uncirculated. dition, all bearing the Coronet design, rep¬ $150,000 was paid out London Insurance
nia entrepreneur Bruce McNall; and a suit Included are seven $10 gold coins pro¬ resented by two 1856-S, six 1857-S, one companies did likewise, and helped avert
filed by Christieb auction house against duced by one of the most reputable firms, 1844-T), one 1850-D Coronet, one 1849-C what could have been an even greater eco¬
Thompson and CADG involving, two Wass, Molitor & Co., founded by an enter¬ and an,l854-0. _ ■ nomic calamity. When its treasure was
loans totaling $35 million as an advance prising pair of Hungarian immigrants. - - The SS Central America was New York- recovered“132 years later, the insurer’s.
for marketing the treasure. Included in the sale will be three examples bound after it picked up a treasure at the subrogation rights were upheld and the
Gold bars from the Gold Rush period are struck in 1852 and four in 1855 (these . Isthmus, of Panama which had originated consortium of underwriters still in exis¬
among the rarest of the Francisco, then in the grips of the tence, or their successors'/including the
appear at auction have Bureau, were
awarded some 8 percent
Sotheby’s auction will of the treasure. It is this
offer a range of gold material that has been
bars from pocket-sized consigned.
weighing 4.95 ounces Ensconced on the
(a Blake & Co. piece ocean floor of the
from San Francisco Atlantic since 1857 with ’
with a face value current to disturb it,
stamped at $81.34) to the gold of the Central:
an immense bar weigh¬ America was unharmed-
ing an astonishing even as the ship deterio¬
662.2 ounces, or more rated around it. A large
than 41 pounds (Kel¬ number of U.S. -gold
logg & Humbert from had survived at ,
San Francisco, with a bottom of the sea in t
face value of the original stacks in
$12,225.62 stamped on which they stood when
it) that contains over packed in wooden
S150,000 of gold alone,
according to Song. In what is one of the
Sotheby’s pre-sale esti¬ single most remarkable
mates range from feats of treasure recov¬
S8,000 to $250,000 ery, Thomas Thompson,
depending upon the the ocean engineer
size, the maker and the spearheading the sal¬
variety of marks. vage efforts, and his
There are also 47 gold associates delicately
ingots produced by five brought to the surface a
different assayers and phenomenal cache of
more than 30 pounds of treasures more than a
ggraornaldign isnd guo sft i snaa nnsddi ztneou agf rg2oe0mts- gboyl Jdu assthsa. y& bHaur nbtye rK. (eAllollg igm aangde sH cuomurbteersty o of fS Sano thFerbany’csi.s)c o (circ i 1857),a gold bar by Henry Hentsch, and i gold assay ingot dcdoeecsniatgrdoneel ldaag boale . sTuhbemt hserarolsvuiboglrhes
ounce nugget with inlaid chunks of quartz Song said there is also an $1851 Bald¬ sure survived for more than 132 years, 8,000 feet of complex cable to retrieve the
will also be offered. win and Co. $10, two 1852 Humbert $10 8,000 feet deep in the frigid waters of the gold from the depths.
The ingots were produced by Blake & coins, an 1852 USAOG $10 coin and an Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Car¬ Some of the treasure has been retrieved
Co. of San Francisco, Henry Hentsch of 1851 August Humbert $50 gold slug. olina. A massive hurricane struck three by encasing the coins, bars and other trea¬
San Francisco, Kellogg and Humbert of Humbert, originally a watchmaker by days into the voyage, eventually sinking sure in special molds injected with a soft
San Francisco, Justh. & Hunter .of San trade, came to California and became the the SS Central America, and taking 425 plastic polymer, allowing for large quanti¬
Francisco, and Harris Marchand of Sacra¬ official United States Assayer; in this passengers and crew on board down with ties of the treasure to be recovered, then
mento and Marysville. capacity, both in his own name, and strict¬ it. It was the worst peacetime disaster at removed from their temporary entomb¬
Privately issued coins during the Gold ly in the name of the Assay Office he sea in American history. . ments once on the ocean’s surface.
Rush are among the rarest. As many pio- struck coins from 1851 to 1853. Humbert The sinking of the SS Central America “The California Gold Rush is not only
r issues contained less gold than the .later \ ) private business a remains one of the most tragic maritime one of the defining moments of American
U.S. standard, they were subsequently assayer and produced some of the massive catastrophes of all-time. Its loss was front-- history, but one of its most exciting and
melted and consequently few have sur¬ gold bars noted above. page news across the country, with sur¬ evocative, “ said David Tripp, special con¬
vived. Today, they are highly sought after. Coronet $20 gold double eagles struck in vivors’ accounts of the harrowing events sultant to the Sotheby’s Coins, Medals and
Most of these private coins had been with¬ 1857 by the San Francisco Mint are keeping the public enthralled with the dra¬ Banknotes department. “As public aware¬
drawn from circulation by 1855, but a among the 150 regular issue Federal coins ma for months. In addition to the terrible ness of the discovery has been growing,
handful survived on the SS Central Amer¬ to be included in the auction. These gold human cost, there was its cargo. the sale of Gold Rush treasure from the SS
ica. These coins were usually free-hand pieces are the most perfectly preserved The more than a million and a half dol¬ Central America, will without doubt be
adaptations of the designs then in circula¬ examples of their date and among the lars of California gold it carried was to be one of the most exciting of the auction
tion on official United States coin done by most perfectly preserved $20 of any era. a tonic for the New York banks, which season.” GD
20 COIN WORLD, Monday, August 16, 1999
Washington
WASHINGTON ■ UNIVERSITY IN ST- LOUS
Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry
August 6, 1999
Professor T. V. Buttrey
Cambridge, England
FAX:[phone]
Dear Ted:
Sorry I missed your telephone call. Should you wish to discuss any of this,
please call back.
The material I am enclosing consists of the following:
1. A New Netherlands Coin Co. ad in the July, 1959 Numismatist (inside front
cover) in which Ford not only brags of "unearthing" new western gold pieces, but
mentions "scrutinizing" unofficial coin dies, assay ingot punches, and bar and
ingot moulds. The ad mentions below the firm’s desire to purchase assayer’s
letter punches. I have also blown up this ad and could send you copies of the
enlargements to your Chicago hotel. (Please confirm in any case that you will be
staying at the Westin O’Hare, arriving on Wednesday, August 11).
2. A second ad from the same source, from the February 1959 Numismatist
offering to buy, among others, "Gold, Mixed-metal, Silver Territorial Ingots," and
"Mexican REpublican Doubloons, 1825-1838." The latter are interesting as they
were cheap coins at the time. Why the interest? Were these made of unparted
gold, and thus grist for the mill? I don’t have nice copies of this ad.
3. Copies of interviews with Ford in Legacy magazine. Of interest is his account
of how he and Franklin found these new western bars. Franklin is the connection
between the 1950's western bars and the disputed USAOG pieces, allegedly
found in the "Franklin Hoard." Also of interest is Ford’s statement that the
Mexican gold bars came from F.C.C. Boyd’s estate, contradicting the account he
gave you. In another place you are mentioned by name and your conclusions
about the Mexican bars dismissed.
4. I'm not including anything to substantiate this, but if necessary, you might ask
Hodder whether it is true that Paul Franklin is, by profession an expert metal
worker, a tool and die maker? I am convinced that this is so, and if necessary, it
could be proved, together with Ford’s knowledge of Franklin’s skills as a metal
worker.
Campus Box 1134, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130-4899
Departmental Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu
Let me end by stating my view that the best thing that could come from your
public confrontation with Hodder would be a shared resolve to continue the
numismatic research on the disputed bars (it seems that you will have to begin
by explicitly defining which bars you are talking about, since Hodder seems to
wish to talk about a broader category os "assay" bars) to reach a firm
numismatic conclusion, just as you did on the Mexican gold bars. It can
probably be agreed that work needs to be done on the punch marks, the
compositions and weights and how they relate to the inscriptions, the sources of
all known pieces and their pedigrees, the firms and assayers who are alleged to
have made them. Difficult, time-consuming, solid numismatic research will very
likely yield answers, some of them unambiguous. That so many of them passed
through Ford’s hands is suggestive, and he should be pressed for details about
where when and from whom he bought them, but it would be numismatistically
satisfying if the objects themselves were studied more closely, as the Mexican
bars were studied by you and Vincent Newman.
All the best. I shall be in my office Saturday morning from 10 AM until noon, and
Sunday afternoon from about 1 to 5 PM. My home telephone number is
It too has an answering machine.
Peter Gaspar