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MORE ON EMIL JUSTHTom Harrison writes: "I wanted to add a note regarding the addenda to the H.G. Sampson sale of the Emil Justh collection. Besides the addenda noted by George Kolbe in the Harry Bass sale 5 (3-10-01, lot 1028) another one appeared in the Bass sale 2 (6-5-99, lot 512). This copy is in a bound volume of 20 Sampson catalogs. Bass purchased this volume from the Katen sale of the George Fuld library (11-27-71, lot 1364) where he was an aggressive buyer. It sold for $27.50 on an estimate of $125. I purchased the volume when it resurfaced in the Kolbe & Fanning sale 143." Dave Hirt writes: "By the way, Emil Justh was a San Francisco assayer during the gold rush days. I believe that gold bars with his name on them are known." As it happened, a Heritage press release including a Justh & Hunter gold bar just missed the cut for last week's issue. That's a great reason to publish it here. Thanks, everyone. -Editor Strike Gold With Fabulous Shipwreck Bars in July Auction
Rather than these pieces arriving to their destination and being used in commerce, they sat for years at the bottom of the ocean--primarily in uncirculated condition but covered in corrosive seawater. Thanks to careful expeditions of divers with new technology and gentle conservation, these coins and bars were eventually recovered and made available to the collecting public. Many of the coins and bars are actually in amazing condition today, after conservation, because they were never spent and used in commerce. Pieces that were rescued from the S.S. Central America are very popular with collectors today. Some of the most impressive items of all from this shipwreck were the massive gold bars that survived their watery journey in surprisingly excellent condition. These bars are also appealing due to their connection to the California Gold Rush. After the "49ers" first discovered gold, the West needed to turn all of this yellow metal into a more practical method of trade, either coins or bars. Bars such as this piece were stamped with their weight and value as a medium of trade. 
The lots up for bid in the July auction is a hefty 39.74 ounce gold bar created by Kellogg & Humbert Assayers and also an enormous Justh & Hunter Gold Ingot weighing 160.64 Ounces. These are both six-figure lots and are truly impressive in person, especially the Justh and Hunter bar, which MELTS for around $300,000 at current prices before you figure in its collector value! See them here: The Justh bar sold for $372,000 with Buyer's Premium. Nice paperweight to keep your Justh catalog from blowing away. See an article elsewhere in this issue about the ship's bell from the S.S. Central America. -Editor
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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