Two huge California Gold Rush era assayers’ ingots, recovered from the fabled SS Central America and with a combined weight of over 100 pounds of gold, will be exhibited at the next Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, September 10 – 12, 2009, in the Long Beach, California Convention Center, 100 S. Pine Ave.

Adam Crum of Monaco Rare Coins holds the 598-ounce Justh & Hunter ingot, one of two huge California Gold Rush-era assayers’ bars recovered from the 1857 shipwreck of the SS Central America

“The display will feature a Kellogg & Humbert gold bar that weighs 662.28 ounces and a Justh & Hunter ingot that is 598.08 Troy ounces. Both were recovered in the late 1980’s from the Central America, the legendary ‘Ship of Gold’ that was carrying tons of California Gold Rush coins and ingots to New York City when it sank during a hurricane in 1857,” said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman.

The Kellogg & Humbert gold bar is stamped as number 804 and with a value in 1857 of $12,225.62. It is the fourth largest gold bar among the 532 ingots recovered from the Central America. The Justh & Hunter ingot is #4255 and marked at the time as $11,089.95

The historic ingots will be displayed by Monaco Rare Coins of Newport Beach, California.

“The exhibit also will include some of the finest known Augustus Humbert $50 denomination octagonal ‘slugs’ produced in San Francisco during the height of the Gold Rush,” said Adam Crum, Monaco Vice President. “These colossal gold bars and big $50 coins, literally, are treasures of Wild West history.”

During the three-day Long Beach Expo more than 1,000 dealers will be buying and selling rare coins, paper money, stamps, postcards, historic documents, antiques, estate jewelry and other collectibles. Some will provide free, informal appraisals for visitors.
(more…)

Heritage to present 2,800-lot survey of global coinage, ancient and antique, Sept. 10-13 in Long beach, CA

An auction event featuring numismatic treasures spanning the four hemispheres of globe is set to take place at Heritage’s Sept. 10-13 Long Beach, CA Signature® World Coin Auction, at the Long Beach Convention Center, 100 S. Pine Avenue, Long Beach, CA.

“We’ve put together a very strong, marvelously focused auction,” said Warren Tucker, Director of World Coins at Heritage Auction Galleries. “After spending a great amount of time gathering and cataloging these coins it’s very gratifying to see the great auction quality we’ve produced for this event. Even better, there are coins in here for collectors of all types and all levels.”

Leading the way for world coin aficionados is a classic and extremely rare Chinese coin, a Mint State Chihli Tael, Year 33 (1907), KM-Y74.1, L&M-438, MS63 NGC. This coin is as sculptural as they come, and carries an appeal equally strong numismatically as it artistically. As a classic and exceedingly uncommon issue of the Chinese late Empire series it is bound to be a hotly contested lot. It carries an estimate of $80,000-$120,000.

“This coin is as attractive as they come,” said Tucker. “It’s fully lustrous with a wonderful gold and gray patina along with superbly defined details on the dragon. There are a lot of collectors bound to be very excited by this coin.”

One of Latin America’s most intriguing coins, the famous Coquimbo Republic Peso 1828-TH, KM88, WR-10, Eliz-98, XF45 NGC, is certain to generate some serious bidding along with equally serious discussion as the coin presented here is an unquestionably authentic type “A” of this issue, and if you know your world coinage then you know there has long been debate over the authenticity of several examples. It carries an estimate of $30,000-$40,000.
(more…)