Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Bonhams announce September 2 Rare Coins and Medals results

Bonhams announce a strong result for its September 2 auction of Rare Coins and Medals in Los Angeles. During the fall sale, the auction house was privileged to offer several Gold Rush rarities including a highly sought after Kellogg & Humbert gold bar, coinage from the S.S. Central America, known by many as ‘the ship of gold,’ and two rare Panama Pacific $50 gold coins.

A lovely and highly impressive example from the S.S. Central America, the gold bar weighs 40.56 ounces and sports gleaming yellow-gold color (est. $120,000-140,000, sold for $146,900). The ill-fated ship went down in a terrible hurricane 155 years ago on September 9, 1857 with great loss of life and property. The treasure was recovered in the late 20th century by the Columbus-America Discovery Group. This gold bar is a piece rich with historical appeal that is an indelible link to Gold Rush California. The lot includes a Certificate of Authenticity from the Columbus-America Discovery Group over the signature of Thompson indicating it was recovered from the S.S. Central America.

Paul Song, Director of the Rare Coins and Banknotes Department at Bonhams, said of the sale, “Material from Gold rush and San Francisco did extremely well during the fall auction. We were pleased to see a strong interest from private buyers with more than half of the top lots sold to individual collectors.”

Also from ‘the ship of gold’ were two examples of frosty and brilliant honey-gold Gem 1857-S $20 MS66 PCGS with exceptional eye appeal and lively orange and olive highlights (est. $30,000-35,000, sold for $37,440 and $31,590). Following the dispersal of the S.S. Central America’s treasure, thousands of 1857-S $20 pieces were discovered but only a small amount of them were of the remarkable Gem quality offered here.

Additional examples from California history included two rare models of the 1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific Exposition coins. Contributing to the lore of these pieces is the Congressional Act that authorized the United States Mint to strike $50 gold coins for sale in conjunction with the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and specified that a total of 3,000 pieces could be produced. Since initial sales for these impressive, large-size gold coins went fairly well, the authorities decided to proceed to strike the entire allotment. The delivery was split evenly between Round and Octagonal examples, with a few extra pieces of each type struck for assay purposes.

Sales of the coin eventually lagged due to the asking price of $100 per coin, which proved too steep among exposition attendees. Although Farran Zerbe continued to sell these coins via mail order after the exposition closed, Treasury Secretary William McAdoo ordered the return of all remaining examples to the Mint for destruction on November 1, 1916. A total of 1,017 Round and 85 Octagonal coins were melted, leaving net mintages of 483 and 645 pieces, respectively.

As a representative of the rarer of the two varieties, Bonhams proudly offered an exceptionally well-preserved Round version of the 1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific Exposition coin with original case (est. $70,000-80,000, sold for $69,030) and an unusual Octagonal style mounted in an old-time custom screw-top bezel with gold chain attached with a key at one end and corkscrew at the other end (est. $15,000-20,000, sold for $40,950). The remarkable Octagonal coin was initially purchased in 1915 at directly from the Panama-Pacific Exposition by the consignor’s grandfather. As an avid wine enthusiast, he found a unique way to blend his two passions and had the item fashioned with a corkscrew.

Auctions of Rare Coins and Medals at Bonhams will continue on December 13 in New York. Highlights for the sale will be available in mid-September. For more information about the department, please visit www.bonhams.com/uscoins.