An early California (USA) gold deposit at Mint 0

[RWB]

This routine deposit letter shows a substantial amount of Californian gold being shipped to the Philadelphia Mint. The quantity of 18,000 pennyweight (900 Troy ounces) in one box was worth approximately $17,000 at typical California placer gold purity.

Edited April 18, 2020 by RWB
Formatting - as usual

[GoldFinger1969]

There was no San Fran mint by 1847 ?  Pretty small order to ship gold 2,500 miles away either by ship (2 weeks) or Pony Express (not exactly the most secure; no Registered Receipt and check on the internet back then ! )

Didn't PRIVATE assayers like Humbolt verify gold content and wasn't their word as good as the U.S. Mint's (whether in San Fran, Philly, or wheverer) ?  I know they sprung up right after the CA Gold Rush started....that was a big part of the SS Central America thing.  Lots of private assayed gold coins/bars/ingots.   So kinda suprising to see gold going from California to Philly if you can monetize it right there in CA.

Edited April 18, 2020 by GoldFinger1969

[physics-fan3.14]

1 hour ago, GoldFinger1969 said:

There was no San Fran mint by 1847 ?  Pretty small order to ship gold 2,500 miles away either by ship (2 weeks) or Pony Express (not exactly the most secure; no Registered Receipt and check on the internet back then ! )

Didn't PRIVATE assayers like Humbolt verify gold content and wasn't their word as good as the U.S. Mint's (whether in San Fran, Philly, or wheverer) ?  I know they sprung up right after the CA Gold Rush started....that was a big part of the SS Central America thing.  Lots of private assayed gold coins/bars/ingots.   So kinda suprising to see gold going from California to Philly if you can monetize it right there in CA.

The gold rush didn't start until late 1848, and got in full swing in 1849. That's why they're called "Forty-Niners." 

The San Fran mint didn't open until 1854. 

Some of the private assayers were very well respected. Moffat & Co began operations in 1849 and they were well respected. Humbert began working for them in 1851, around the time the company became an official US Assay office. 

There's a lot of really good discussion about early California gold, and the letter posted in this thread, which you can find here: https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1010095/first-deposit-of-california-gold-at-the-philadelphia-mint-via-boston-resident

[RWB]

Note the letter posted above predates the one I posted on PCGS by almost a year. (This had been posted by Denga to the PCGS thread.)

Edited April 20, 2020 by RWB

[GoldFinger1969]

Great reading, thanks Roger....I'll check them out when I need a break from BARRON'S and your book later today. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by GoldFinger1969

[RWB]

Earlier California gold letter.

A letter from November 26, 1846 says, “And a bar of California Gold estimated to be worth $261.09.” This was part of a deposit of foreign silver coins. The depositor wanted the value of the gold bar returned in quarters.

[RG104 E-1 Box 25]

[Conder101]

The date of the first letter is almost exactly a year before the gold that arrived at the mint which was made into the 1848 CAL quarter eagles. the gold that made the proclamation of "gold in California" official.  Even though that shipment was less than a third the size of the one in the OP letter.

On 4/18/2020 at 2:18 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

Pretty small order to ship gold 2,500 miles away either by ship (2 weeks) or Pony Express (not exactly the most secure

2 weeks?  Try 3 to 6 months.  Three if you took it to Panama, carried it across the country and then got on board another ship.  Six months if you sent it around the tip of South America.  Even overland by stage could take a month and a half to reach St Louis where you could board a train and go the rest of the way in about a week.  Couldn't ship by train, transcontinental railroad wasn't completed until 1896.  Pony express?  Didn't exist until 1860, and the pony express didn't carry freight.  What they carried were documents, contracts and other important papers, usually written on onion skin paper to save on weight.  The rate was $5 for 1/2 oz.  1 oz of Cal gold was worth about $16.  It would cost $10 to ship it to St Louis, and then extra on to Philadelphia.

[RWB]

The link posted by Physicsfan 3.14 includes the reason the 1848 gold was important.

[Conder101]

Ah yes, politics.  The December 1848 was the first DOMESTIC gold from California, the much larger Dec, 1847 deposit was imported gold from Mexican California.