The majority of the content on this page has been sourced from historical descriptions found in various listings at Heritage Auctions.
The finding of gold in the northern region of California in January 1848 brought about a significant and transformative impact on California itself, the nation, and the people who eagerly rushed to settle there.
Prior to this discovery, California was sparsely inhabited and considered a remote outpost in northern Mexico. However, John Marshall’s discovery changed everything, propelling California into becoming a vital contributor to the United States’ economy. The sudden influx of California gold into the American economy had the unintended consequence of increasing the value of silver, though this imbalance would later be rectified with the discovery of the Comstock Lode.
This particular Harris Marchand Co. ingot, weighing 18.41 ounces, surprisingly failed to find a buyer at an auction in 2010.
The arrival of the Gold Rush in the western part of the United States prompted a significant influx of Europeans and Americans from the East Coast. As a result of the Gold Rush, the city of San Francisco had to resort to using gold dust as a rather impractical method of conducting commercial transactions. The quality of the gold dust varied depending on its origin, often containing impurities like brass flakes, which caused its value to fluctuate greatly.
With the rise in demand for standardized currency, the residents of San Francisco eagerly pleaded for the establishment of a branch mint. Their desire for consistent coinage was eventually met when the San Francisco Mint was established in 1854. However, the mint struggled to keep up with the conversion of placer gold into coins or ingots of various sizes and weights.
To fill this void, several reputable private assaying firms emerged. These firms were capable of converting gold dust into stamped ingots, sometimes completing the process within just 24 hours.
On September 5, 2019, a Kellogg Humbert gold ingot weighing 14.01 ounces was sold at an auction for $51,600. These ingots, used as a form of currency, were highly valued for their ability to transfer large amounts of wealth, as evidenced by their popularity during the recovery of bars from the S.S. Central America.
During the 1850s, a significant amount of gold was being recovered from the goldfields of California. To transport this gold to eastern banks, a task that mirrored the original journey of gold seekers to California, it had to endure a challenging route. The gold was first shipped from San Francisco to Panama by ship, then transported overland across the Isthmus of Panama for fifty miles, and finally shipped again to the East Coast of the United States.
However, by 1855, the construction of the Panama Railroad was completed, offering a more efficient method for transferring cargo, including large quantities of gold from California, across the isthmus. Taking advantage of this, on September 3, 1857, the S.S. Central America departed from Aspinwall (now Colón), a Panamanian port, heading towards New York City. The ship carried an incredible ten tons of gold, as well as 477 passengers and 101 crew members.
Tragedy struck on September 9th when the ship encountered a devastating hurricane. The sails were torn apart, causing water to infiltrate the boiler room and resulting in a loss of power. The ship’s inability to operate the bilge pumps led to its doom, along with the lives of 425 passengers and crew members. This incident was considered the most significant American navigation disaster at that time.
Painted in 1857, an artwork showcases the sinking of the S.S. Central America, an event that resulted in the loss of gold worth a staggering $800 million with the current value of gold at around $2,000 per ounce. This immense loss of wealth created a financial panic that strained both the United States and Europe’s economies. Given the unimaginable fortune resting at the bottom of the ocean, it was inevitable that advancements in technology would eventually lure adventurers to pursue the treasure. Situated 7,200 feet beneath the surface, the first expedition by the Columbus-America Discovery Group was sent in September 1988 to recover the sunken treasure. The successful operation yielded an estimated $100-$150 million in gold. Subsequently, multiple expeditions retrieved additional gold and other valuable items.
A selection of remarkable gold ingots salvaged from the S.S. Central America, originating from five well-known private assay firms in California, have recently been sold at auction. Heritage Auctions provided historical background information for these firms alongside their respective listings.
One of these firms, Justh Hunter, surprised many with the scale of their operation when 85 of their gold ingots were recovered during the initial round of recovery efforts from the late 1980s through the 1990s. The total value of these bars in 1857 dollars amounted to $232,328.86, equivalent to over $7 million in 2021.
Among the five represented firms in the Central America treasure, Justh Hunter possessed the second-highest number of gold ingots, a significantly larger quantity compared to the third most represented assayer, Harris, Marchand Co.
Emanuel Justh, originally a lithographer from Verboca, Hungary, immigrated to San Francisco from Hamburg, Germany. His journey took 159 days with only one stop in Valparaiso, Chile. After settling in San Francisco, Justh established a successful lithography business, a career he pursued until 1854. During that year, he ventured into the assaying business and was employed by the U.S. Branch Mint.
Just a year later, in May 1855, Justh established a partnership in assaying with Solomon Hillen Hunter. It seems that Justh’s departure from the branch mint was on good terms, as the new partnership received the endorsement of U.S. Assayer Agoston Haraszthy and branch mint Superintendent Louis Birdsall. These testimonies spoke highly of Justh’s abilities, describing him as competent and faithful.
Hunter, on the other hand, came to San Francisco from Maryland, where he had been involved in the shipping trade in Baltimore. Interestingly, he arrived in California aboard the S.S. George Law, which was later renamed the S.S. Central America. This ship, although not adequately refurbished, would eventually play a significant role in bringing attention to the importance of their firm within the numismatic community, around 130 years later.
On August 4, 2020, an exquisite 7.67-ounce gold ingot from Justh Hunter secured a significant sum of $66,000 at an auction. The partnership between Justh Hunter was met with rapid progress, leading them to establish a branch assay office in Marysville by May 1856. The location brought them closer to the gold fields, enabling them to offer a remarkable 12-hour turnaround time for ore assayed in that office. Justh Hunter’s presence as a reputable California assayer persisted until their partnership dissolved in July 1858.
Moving forward to January 14, 2022, another remarkable moment unfolded when a beautifully crafted 866.19-ounce gold ingot from Justh Hunter found a new owner for an astounding price of $2,160,000. The ingot itself boasts an organized layout and displays captivating engravings on its top side. These engravings include the mark of Justh Hunter, a curved hallmark, and details regarding its weight and purity: “NO. 4221 / curved Justh Hunter hallmark / 866.19 OZS 892 FINE. / $15971.93.” While the surfaces of the ingot may reveal occasional traces of reddish patina on both sides, its remarkable craftsmanship cannot be denied. This particular ingot was skillfully poured into Mold J Hsf-15, resulting in its impressive dimensions of 87mm x 283mm.
Justh ingots came in a variety of sizes, ranging from small to absolutely massive. The smallest ingot weighed 5.24 ounces, while the largest, which originated from the San Francisco office, tipped the scales at an incredible 866.19 ounces. This enormous ingot only falls second in weight to the iconic “Eureka!” Kellogg Humbert ingot, which boasts a hefty 933.94 ounces. As a result, the Justh Hunter ingot from this particular office claims the title of the largest ingot known worldwide. Remarkably, it also holds the distinction of being the largest ingot ever to be offered at a public auction.
To grasp the present significance of this bar, let’s take a journey back to 1857, in the bustling city of New York. During that time, carpenters were earning a decent income of $1.79 per day for their hard work. With a six-day workweek, our average carpenter brought in a total of $10.74 every week. Now, let’s pause and ponder the value of this remarkable ingot, proudly displaying its worth of $15,971.93. Astonishingly, this single ingot has the potential to cover the weekly wages of a whopping 1,487 carpenters. Isn’t that truly incredible?
The sinking of the S.S. Central America had a significant impact on the financial markets in New York and played a role in causing the Panic of 1857. An interesting piece related to this event is the sale of the Justh Hunter 464.65 Ounce Gold Ingot on May 5, 2022, fetching a price of $1,320,000. The ingot’s surfaces display a vibrant yellow-gold color, which is typical for an ingot with a fineness of .912. This particular ingot, known for its exceptionally large size, features two company hallmarks on the top side, arranged horizontally.
The distinct markings are located on the upper surface: NO.9521 / J H insignia, another J H insignia / 464.65 OZS. 912 FINE. / $8759.90. The bar was melted into Mold J Hm-08, indicating its dimensions of 72mm x 216mm, with a thickness of 51mm.
A fascinating characteristic found in the Marysville ingots is the inclusion of a small J H stamp on both corners where the assay chips were removed. This particular ingot, part of the 9000 series of Marysville ingots, is the most significant one known to date. Its rarity and significance in the exploration of Gold Rush California cannot be emphasized enough.
Known as “Gateway to the Gold Fields,” Marysville, California became the second destination for Emil Justh and Solomon H. Hunter’s flourishing assay office business. Situated 125 miles northwest of their first establishment on Montgomery Street in San Francisco, the duo set up shop in a quaint one-story brick building on the south side of 1st Street, close to the intersection with D Street. Entrusting Hunter with the operations in Marysville, Justh continued to oversee their original location in San Francisco.
Marysville, a town bustling with the Gold Rush economy, was inhabited by approximately 8,000 individuals and possessed properties that held a total worth of $3.3 million. One of the prominent firms involved in assessing gold, known as Harris, Marchand, Company, also operated a branch in Marysville. In the year 1857, a staggering $20 million worth of gold was transported solely from this town to the Eastern states. It is reasonable to assume that a significant portion of this amount was in the form of gold ingots, similar to the one being presented here.
The gold ingot in question, known as the Justh Hunter 327.97 Ounce Gold Ingot, was sold on January 5, 2017, for a remarkable sum of $564,000. Weighing 327.97 ounces, this bar falls under the category commonly referred to as “extremely large size,” encompassing a range of 300.01 to 500.00 ounces. It is noteworthy that this particular ingot holds the distinction of being the second largest one associated with the Marysville office of Justh Hunter, with the largest weighing in at 464.65 ounces. At the time of its creation, this 327.97-ounce bar carried an estimated value of $6,162.78.
Interestingly, both Justh and Hunter were not experts in assaying, which one would assume is crucial to starting a business in that field. Before coming to California, Justh had experience in lithography while Hunter was involved in the shipping industry as a merchant in Baltimore.
Justh gained valuable knowledge while working as an assistant assayer at the San Francisco Mint during its first year of operation. On the other hand, it is unclear what qualifications Hunter had as an assayer. However, their lack of experience did not hinder the success of Justh Hunter.
In May 1855, Justh Hunter began advertising in California newspapers. They made a bold guarantee, promising to pay the difference if their assays differed from those of any of the U.S. Mints. Their promotional material also included endorsements from San Francisco Mint Superintendent Dr. Louis Aiken Birdsall and Assayer Agoston Haraszthy, whom Justh had worked with previously.
Despite their limited field experience, Justh Hunter quickly established themselves as a reputable and skilled duo. In February 1856, just under a year into their venture, they received high praise in an article published in The Mining Magazine titled “Invention in the Process of Gold Refining.” The article described their adoption of a revolutionary gold-refining technique that used gas instead of the traditional sand-bath method. Justh and Hunter were believed to be the first to introduce this innovation in the United States, and the article advocated for its adoption in all the Mints due to its labor-saving and cost-cutting benefits.
Another testament to Justh Hunter’s exceptional refining ability came from the Weekly California Express on January 29, 1859. The article outlined the average fineness of deposits at the San Francisco Mint for 1858, noting that the second quarter average was significantly higher. This was attributed to “23.5 percent of the deposits in May and June” being bags of refined gold from Justh Hunter’s private refinery. However, despite their success, Justh Hunter ended their partnership on July 10, 1858.
