All realizations include buyer’s premium.
Of the top six lots in Heritage Auctions’ Long Beach Signature Auction last week, five items were gold ingots recovered from the 1857 shipwreck of the S.S. Central America.
“Easily the most fascinating” – and the sale’s top-earning lot, bringing $528,000 USD (more than $700,000 Cdn.) – was the large California Gold Rush-era 174.04-ounce ingot from Harris, Marchand and Co. It was the sole ingot from the company’s Marysville branch and measures 65 millimetres by 177 millimetres by 25 millimetres.
Centred at the bottom of the ingot’s top side is its 1857 value—$3,389.06.
Today, 174 ounces of gold is worth about $230,000 USD.
OTHER INGOT HIGHLIGHTS
Additional ingots in the recent auction, which was held Jan. 29-Feb. 3 in conjunction with Long Beach Coin Expo, included:
- a 97.19-ounce Kellogg and Humbert gold ingot that sold for $204,000 USD;
- a 19.30-ounce Blake and Co. gold ingot that sold for $156,000 USD;
- a 14.31-ounce Blake and Co. small-sized gold ingot that sold for $144,000 USD; and
- a 50.50-ounce Justh and Hunter gold ingot that sold for $121,333 USD.