SS Central America shipwreck treasures total $1M at Holabird

Miner’s work pants with a five-button fly, recovered from the S.S. Central America, $114,000. Image courtesy of Holabird Western Americana Collections
Miner’s work pants with a five-button fly, recovered from the S.S. Central America, $114,000. Image courtesy of Holabird Western Americana Collections
Miner’s work pants with a five-button fly, recovered from the S.S. Central America, $114,000. Image courtesy of Holabird Western Americana Collections

RENO, Nev. – An auction of 270 never-before-offered historic California Gold Rush sunken treasure artifacts, conducted on December 3 by Holabird Western Americana Collections, totaled nearly $1 million. The recovered jewelry, mid-1800s clothing, glassware and other items were retrieved from the legendary vessel dubbed the Ship of Gold, the S.S. Central America, which sank during a voyage to New York in 1857. More than 7,500 registered bidders across the United States and in six other countries participated.

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Holabird to auction objects from SS Central America shipwreck this fall

This brass name tag and set of keys for SS Central America Purser Edward W. Hull may have unlocked a room where Gold Rush treasure cargo was secured on the ship. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections

 

This brass name tag and set of keys for SS Central America Purser Edward W. Hull may have unlocked a room where Gold Rush treasure cargo was secured on the ship. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections
This brass name tag and set of keys for SS Central America Purser Edward W. Hull may have unlocked a room where Gold Rush treasure cargo was secured on the ship. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections

RENO, Nev. – After a century and a half on the ocean floor, nearly a thousand historic California Gold Rush-era sunken treasure items from the 1857 sinking of the fabled Ship of Gold, the S.S. Central America, have been brought together again, cataloged and conserved for upcoming public displays. Many of them will be shown for the first time at collectors’ shows across the country, then offered in public auctions planned for October and November by Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC.

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