In September, 1857, the side-wheel steamer, S.S. Central America, laden with freshly minted gold coins (primarily $20 double eagles) and other relics of the gold fields was caught in a hurricane off the coast of South Carolina, while making its way up the Atlantic en route from Panama to New York. The ship sank to the ocean floor and her precious cargo never made it to New York, exasperating the already weak economy. This week's highlight from our New York Rarities Sale, being held on May 20, 2015 at Sotheby's Galleries, comes from this recovered treasure.

The wreck was discovered in September 1988 by Tommy Thompson and the Columbus America Discovery Group. Using state of the art equipment, they located and recovered a large quantity of gold coins and ingots from the ocean floor. Among them was this impressive Kellogg & Humbert 45.19 ounce gold ingot.

Mr. Bowers penned a massive reference work on the history of the Gold Rush, with special focus on the S.S. Central America. A small number of "special editions" of this book were produced and given to those who purchased certain private ingots such as the Kellogg and Humbert example we are offering. For those interested in the history of the Gold Rush, no relic is more impressive than these large gold bars, and this fantastic reference book by Q. David Bowers. This is an important opportunity.

In his description of this lot for the catalog, James McCarthy states:

To read the complete article, see:
Historic and Extremely Rare Assay Ingot from the wreck of the S.S. Central America (www.stacksbowers.com/NewsMedia/Blogs/TabId/780
/ArtMID/2678/ArticleID/65082/Historic-and-Extremely-Rare
-Assay-Ingot-from-the-wreck-of-the-SS-Central-America.aspx)