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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

Holabird to auction objects from SS Central America shipwreck this fall

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley

 

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.

Among the notable recovered items are a unique lid to the remnants of the oldest known Wells Fargo treasure shipment box; clothing, including a pair of the oldest known Gold Rush-era canvas work pants or jeans, which have a button fly and may have been made by Levi Strauss in his early years in business; photographs; jewelry fashioned from California Gold Rush mother lode native gold in quartz as gemstones; and personal grooming items such as combs, hairbrushes, perfume bottles, buttons and buckles.

One recovered jewelry item from the SS Central America is a large 18K Gold Rush ore engraved brooch that San Francisco businessman Samuel Brannan was sending to his son in Geneva, Switzerland as a gift for his son's teacher. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.
An intriguing piece of jewelry recovered from the SS Central America is a large 18K Gold Rush ore engraved brooch that San Francisco businessman Samuel Brannan was sending to his son in Geneva, Switzerland as a gift for his son’s teacher. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.

One of the important recovered jewelry items is a large 18K gold ore engraved brooch that prominent San Francisco businessman Samuel Brannan was sending to his son in Geneva, Switzerland, as a gift to the son’s teacher.

“These historic items are a time capsule from the California Gold Rush,” said Fred Holabird, president of Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC.

One of the notable artifacts recovered from the wreck of the S.S. Central America is this 19th-century daguerreotype metal plate photograph of an unidentified young woman that the scientific mission recovery team nicknamed the Mona Lisa of the Deep. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.
One of the notable artifacts recovered from the wreck of the S.S. Central America is this 19th-century daguerreotype metal plate photograph of an unidentified young woman that the scientific mission recovery team nicknamed the Mona Lisa of the Deep. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.

Some 19th-century photographs were also recovered. One daguerreotype metal plate photograph of an unidentified young woman was nicknamed Mona Lisa of the Deep by the scientific mission recovery team that retrieved the mysterious photo from the seabed, where it was discovered in a scattered pile of the ship’s coal.

“The Mona Lisa of the Deep half-plate daguerreotype, with exceptional depth of field resolution, is by far the finest such image of the 1850s era that I’ve seen in my 50 years of working with historic photographs,” said Holabird.

Another standout item is the Central America brass name tag attached to a set of keys that belonged to the ship’s purser. “Because these keys are larger than the type usually used for passengers’ rooms, we think these purser’s keys were for the locked room where the gold treasure cargo was kept on the ship,” said Holabird.

The estimated values of the artifacts range from a few hundred dollars each to more than $1 million.

“These incredible artifacts that were in secure storage in three different states are now giving us a glimpse of Gold Rush-era daily life for passengers and crew in the 1850s,” said Dwight Manley, managing partner of the California Gold Marketing Group of Brea, California, which owns the recovered items. Manley plans to donate some of them to museums.

The SS Central America artifacts provide a glimpse of Gold Rush-era daily life, such as this jar of a hair-grooming product described as “Highly Perfumed Bear’s Grease For Beautifying & Strengthening the Hair.” Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.

The SS Central America artifacts provide a glimpse of Gold Rush-era daily life, such as this jar of a hair-grooming product described as “Highly Perfumed Bear’s Grease For Beautifying & Strengthening the Hair.” Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.

Selections from the collection of objects recovered from the S.S. Central America will appear at the National Antique Bottle Convention (www.fohbc.org) in Reno, Nevada, July 28-31; the American Numismatic Association 2022 Chicago World’s Fair of Money (www.WorldsFairofMoney.com) in Rosemont, Illinois, August 16-20; Papermania Plus (www.papermaniaplus.com) in Hartford, Connecticut, August 20; and the Hardrock Summit 2022 gem and jewelry show in Denver, Colorado (www.HardRockSummit.com), September 8-11. Arrangements are being sought for a venue and dates for a possible public display in the New York City area.

Also recovered from the wreck of the fabled Ship of Gold, the SS Central America, is the lid to the remnants of the oldest known Wells Fargo treasure shipment box. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.
Also recovered from the wreck of the fabled Ship of Gold, the SS Central America, is the lid to the remnants of the oldest known Wells Fargo treasure shipment box. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.

The S.S. Central America sank 7,200 feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean off the North Carolina coast during a hurricane on September 12, 1857. The vessel was on a voyage from Panama to New York, carrying tons of California Gold Rush coins, ingots and gold dust from the San Francisco and Northern California area. The tragedy took the lives of 425 of the ship’s 578 passengers and crew members, and the loss of the gold cargo was a major influence on the financial Panic of 1857 in the United States.

Recovery from the shipwreck site of what has been described as “America’s greatest treasure” occurred in several stages between 1988-1991 and again in 2014. Thousands of retrieved gold coins and hundreds of gold bars have been sold since 2000; however, these latest items were kept in storage in three different states – Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio – until a court-approved settlement was reached, ending a decades-long ownership dispute.

This pair of San Francisco Gold Rush jeans, recovered from the wreck of the SS Central America, is the oldest known example of its kind and may have been made by Levi Strauss in his early years in business. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.
This pair of San Francisco Gold Rush jeans, recovered from the wreck of the SS Central America, is the oldest known example of its kind and may have been made by Levi Strauss in his early years in business. Photo credit: Holabird Western Americana Collections.

“Seemingly ordinary items from the passengers and crew today give us extraordinary insight into the everyday lives of the people who traveled on the steamship,” said scientist Bob Evans, who was on each of the recovery missions, adding,“They show the kinds of day-to-day clothes that normally ended up in the rag bin after 10 years of wear, such as gold field miners’ work pants, long underwear – some of them still not worn – as well as the fancier spats and cravats. The common, everyday clothes rarely are represented in historic costume collections, which are dominated in the antique category by things like formal gowns and dress uniforms,” explained Evans.

For additional information about the recovered artifacts and the auctions planned for October and November, visit Holabird Western Americana Collections at www.HolabirdAmericana.com. You may also call 775-851-1859 or email info@holabirdamericana.com.