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The E-Sylum: Volume 25, Number 31, July 31, 2022, Article 19

S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA ARTIFACTS EXHIBITED

Artifacts from the fabled wreck of the S.S. Central America were on display in Reno this week. Here's an article from the Reno Gazette Journal. -Editor

  Fred Holabird Bob Evans Reno Warehouse SS Central America artifacts
Fred Holabird and Bob Evans in warehouse with SS Central America artifacts

A mysterious daguerreotype of a woman and a pair of jeans possibly made by Levi Strauss himself are among nearly 1,000 Gold Rush-era treasures recovered from the fabled "Ship of Gold" that will be on display in Reno this week.

Since their recovery between the late 1980s and 2014, the remarkable findings extracted from the sunken S.S. Central America have been in secret storage, but this week begins a national tour, which will start at the National Antique Bottle Convention from July 28 through 31 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno.

This is the first public exhibition of the artifacts, which will be auctioned off later this year.

Among the notable recovered items are the lid to the oldest known Wells Fargo treasure shipment box; 1857 clothing, including a pair of the earliest known Gold Rush-era canvas work pants jeans with a button fly that may have been made by Strauss in his early years in business; and jewelry made from California Gold Rush "mother lode" native gold in quartz as gemstones, according to Fred Holabird, president of Holabird Western Americana Collections in Reno.

There is even a key to the ship's wine storage room and an S.S. Central America brass name tag attached to a set of keys that belonged to the ship's purser. We believe these were for the locked room where the gold treasure cargo was kept, Holabird said in a press release.

Other items recovered include pistols; brass luggage tags; passengers' ticket receipts; galley utensils and dishes; ornate, flint glass wine and spirits decanters that appear to have been a standard amenity in the first-class staterooms; eyeglasses in solid gold frames; and chewing tobacco in a pouch apparently from the 1851 London World's Fair, Holabird said.

While laden with booty, the S.S. Central America shipwreck was also a deep sea gravesite.

SS Central America gold ingot The ship sank 7,200 feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean off the North Carolina coast during a hurricane on September 12, 1857. The ship 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 items on display during the upcoming convention 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.

Scientist Bob Evans, who was on each of the recovery missions, will be at the exhibit in Reno to talk to visitors about the Ship of Gold and the recovered Gold Rush artifacts.

The items will be offered in public auctions in October and November by Holabird Western Americana Collections. Currently, California Gold Marketing Group of Brea, Calif. owns the antiques.

Check out the full article online, which includes a nice video with Bob Evans. -Editor

To read the complete article, see:
Treasures from 1857 'Ship of Gold' shipwreck unveiled in Reno (https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2022/07/27/treasures-1857-ship-gold-shipwreck-unveiled-reno/10158916002/)

Arthur Shippee passed along a USA Today article with exhibit tour information and a great gallery of 24 photos - check it out. Thanks. -Editor

  SS Central America artifacts in warehouse
  SS Central America jewelry in warehouse
  SS Central America room keys and tags in warehouse
Room keys and key tags

The first display will be Friday through Sunday at the National Antique Bottle Convention in Reno, Nevada. The artifacts will then be at the Chicago World's Fair of Money in Rosemont, Illinois from Aug. 16-20 before heading to the HardRock Summit 2022 Gem and Jewelry Show in Denver from Sept. 8-11.

All the items will be up for auction in October and November, though exact dates haven't been announced. Keep an eye on the auction website for more details.

To read the complete article, see:
175 years after it sank, 'Ship of Gold' treasures begin tour of US before going up for auction (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/29/ss-central-america-shipwreck-artifacts-treasure/10153502002/)

Fred Holabird provided this image of the exhibit, showing about one third of the total area. -Editor

  SS Central America Reno exhibit 3

Bob Evans provided this report and images from the show. Thanks!

"The show in Reno is great! Fred Holabird and his company have put together a fabulous display of non-numismatic artifacts from the Central America. It is wonderful to bring these artifacts to the public and to see their reaction. We have a wide variety including jewelry, bottles and ceramics, wooden treasure boxes, including the lid from a Wells Fargo box, and clothing from the recovered trunks. I am really looking forward to bringing this and even more, including the robot submarine Nemo, to the ANA convention in Rosemont in a couple weeks, to share with all my numismatic friends and the general public. Numismatists currently know the SS Central America story better than any other collecting community, and now they can see the rest of the story and learn the tales these artifacts have to tell. It will be great! See you there!"

  Visitors at Reno exhibit
  Reno SSCA display 1 Reno SSCA display 2
  Reno SSCA display 3
  Reno SSCA Exhibit 1

Another article has some more images. -Editor

  Mona_Lisa_of_the_Deep_daguerreotype Bear's_Grease_jar_lid
  Wells_Fargo_Treasure_box_lid

To read the complete article, see:
Sunken treasure artifacts from the S.S. Central America (1857) will be displayed, then auctioned (https://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/1328-sunken-treasure-artifacts-from-the-ss-central-america-(1857)-will)

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Wayne Homren, Editor

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