S.S. Central America Kellogg & Humbert Gold Bar Face Plate with Kellogg Restrike
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S.S. Central America Kellogg & Humbert
Gold Bar Face Plate with Kellogg Restrike
- Aboard the SS Central America was an estimated $550 million worth of treasure, first discovered in the late 1980s.
- Among the wreckage was 532 gold ingots from five of the eleven assaying offices in California at the end of 1856
- The five assay offices in which gold ingots were recovered from the SS Central America include: Blake & Co.; Harris, Marchand & Co.; Henry Hentsch, Justh & Hunter and Kellogg & Co.
- Kellogg & Company were renowned assayers during the Gold Rush era and a predominant private operation even after the San Francisco Mint opened its doors in April of 1854.
- The private operation is one of only two institutions to provide private coinage for Californians in 1854 and 1855, while the Branch Mint was struggling to meet demand during its initial years.
- Due to its superiority among private assayers, Kellogg & Co. were relied on heavily to also provide gold ingots, which was the easiest form for transferring and melting gold.
- As such, from the 532 bars recovered on the SS Central America, Kellogg & Co.’s assayer punch was most often found amongst the assay offices, followed by Justh & Hunter.
- Blake & Company: 34
- Harris, Marchand & Company: 37
- Henry Hentsch: 33
- Justh & Hunter: 85
- Kellogg & Company: 342
- In fact, the largest ingot found on the vessel was the product of Kellogg & Company. Known as the “Eureka” bar, this ingot weighted 933.94 oz of .903 gold.
- With a face value of $17,433.57 in 1857, the Eureka bar was worth more than many could fathom obtaining in their lifetime. The Eureka bar is said to have sold privately in the early 2000’s for approximately $8 million.
- RCTV has had the opportunity to present many ingots to our clients through the years, with none more famous than the “Carson” bar, held by Johnny Carson himself on the Tonight Show in May of 1991. This extraordinary artifact sold to private client for north of $2 million in 2022.
- The present piece consists of the faceplate of an original Kellogg & Co. ingot from the SS Central America shipwreck, of which was removed from the full bar. The remainder of the bar was melted and used to strike Kellogg Restrikes!
- Had the ingot remained intact, a bar of this size would sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. For example, another bar from the SSCA weighing 238.84 ounces sold for over $500,000 in May of 2022.
- In a beautiful Cherrywood custom frame including a $50 1855 Gold Liberty Kellogg Restrike PCGS Gem Proof, images of the SS Central America and of the actual sunken treasure.
- The winning bidder also receives an 1855 Kellogg Restrike struck using gold from the SS Central America, a value of $8,995 individually.
