TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 3.2

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 17, 2025, Article 16

In January, our good friend Bob Evans began publishing a series of blog articles on the Finest Known website detailing his experience as co-discoverer and curator of the treasures recovered from the wreck of the Subject of the book "Ship of Gold", many exhibits, countless interviews and articles, books and auction catalogs feature the legendary haul of gold coins, bars, nuggets, gold dust and more from the 1857 shipwreck. Here's another excerpt - see the complete article online.

This installment is especially worth a detailed read, as it describes the key moments when the numismatic world first learned details of the treasures recovered from the ship, including the reactions of consultants Walter Breen and John J. Ford, Jr. -Editor

As I have discussed before, apart from a brief and not-too-serious involvement with hobby coin collecting in boyhood, I knew very little about numismatics other than what I had gleaned from guides and references in the Columbus Public Library. This was my state of my numismatic knowledge just prior to seeing the Garden of Gold and becoming its Curator. After another year of library books, I was eager to share what I had found with any knowledgeable numismatist. Finally, it was time.

I selected and curated a few dozen pieces that I transferred to Christie's vault in New York, so there was a full scope of what we had recovered, conveniently available at a reputable location in New York for viewing by experts and media. The records show that among the US issued coins there were 48 double eagles ($20,) 4 eagles ($10,) and one quarter eagle ($2.50.) There were also representatives of the fascinating privately minted gold coinage of the years just prior to the 1854 opening of the San Francisco US Branch Mint.

There were two of the Octagonal $50 classics from Augustus Humbert, the US Assay of Gold in San Francisco, and one round $50 from Wass Molitor & Co., along with seven $10 coins and one $5 from the various pioneer mints. There were a couple foreign coins, a Sovereign, and a 10-Thaler piece from Hanover (Germany.) The treasure at Christie's included many lustrous mint-state coins, looking like they had been made yesterday, never touched or circulated, except to be packed into boxes and shipped to New York. The treasure's coins were obviously an historically important time capsule of commerce. I remember sitting with James, watching the wonder in his eyes as I unpacked one mint-state marvel after another. We often laughed in amazement.

And then there were those fabulous gold bars! I stored ten ingots there, a full suite, including at least one from each of the five different assayers, in a variety of small sizes.

Among the bars we deposited at Christie's were a full suite of the five assayers. Blake & Co., Kellogg & Humbert Assayers, Harris, Marchand & Co., Henry Hentsch, and Justh & Hunter.

James Lamb was a rookie at US Numismatics (and so was I.) Christie's, with its world-wide reputation, venerable clout, AND representing the SSCA treasure, had no trouble calling in a couple of the "big guns" of numismatics, John Ford and Walter Breen. These were top experts, happy to be summoned to examine the top treasure.

Ford arrived that morning at Christie's in a tailored suit, looking like a typical successful New York businessman. He had the air of a professor, his confidence supported by long decades of experience. He seemed very sure of himself, while James and I brought the gold into a conference room. Ford only spent an hour looking over the assemblage, showing some interest in the fact that the US Mint products were such high-grade material. There were examples of double eagles both conserved and unconserved, to show the before and after of my curatorial process, which seemed to wow everyone who saw the results. He lingered over a particularly high-grade pioneer $10, commenting about its late die state, something I didn't understand yet. He nodded knowingly as he examined the bars, but a look of concern fell across his face, and he really made very few comments. "Ah, yes. Justh & Hunter. Blake & Co." He made one comment about one of the high-purity ingots, a Henry Hentsch bar, probably being a "proofing piece." I didn't know then what he meant. I'm not exactly sure that I know now. Whatever he meant, he was wrong, and the SSCA treasure said so.

Now I look back on this meeting with half a lifetime of hindsight. In 1989, I was a numismatic novice, attending a "Master Class" with one of the Masters. I was a little disappointed that Ford did not enthusiastically accept what to me was obvious, that there was a standard form that every single assayer and ingot followed, markings that indicated Assayer, Serial Number, Weight, Purity, and Dollar Value. I can see now that this did not conform to the pieces he "discovered" in the 1950s, and this probably disquieted him. Seeing a genuine Blake & Co. ingot, and real Justh & Hunter pieces, the universe shifted for John Ford that morning, and he didn't like it.

James was cautious, as he discussed the impending arrival of Walter Breen to the Christie's New York office. In our introductory meetings and communications, we had scoped each other out. Neither of us were big city elites, although both of us were perceptive, well-cultured, and well-educated: the young scientist from the American Midwest and the young numismatist from the North of England. But, bringing someone as culturally edgy as Walter Breen into the "high society" of Christie's? That required some measure of caution.

Just as with John Ford, I knew very little about the man prior to meeting him. Mere months before I had been toiling at sea, fully occupied with the enormous organizational and curatorial task at hand. I had little time to research the resumés of the experts before meeting them. With Breen, a little reading revealed the extent of his authorship, and I looked forward to showing the treasure to a man of such wide experience. Another Master Class with another Master.

So, the day after the strange, formal, reserved meeting with John Ford, I looked forward to meeting Walter Breen. James explained, somewhat cautiously, that Walter might look like "a street person." I assured James that this would not bother me. It didn't. True to expectation, Walter was dressed in loose-fitting pants (they might have been jeans) with a loose light brown tunic as a top. His long hair and long bushy beard gave him all attributes of a "hippy," but he skipped the tie-dye for this occasion.

After greetings and opening remarks, James and I brought the treasure into the conference room for Breen's examination. We started with the coins, since that was really Breen's specialty. He was immediately impressed with the high-grade and with coins that were "fresh," and he requested different setting with better light, so he could have a close look. James set him up in a small side office with a good examination lamp. Walter asked for a little time, he figured a couple hours, and he began scrutinizing the gold with the three-part magnifier (three different powers) that hung on a lanyard around his neck.

... James asked me if we should show Walter some bars. We left Walter poring over the coins and went to get ingots out of the safe.

James reached out to him with a bright shiny ingot, Kellogg & Humbert No. 554. It was 38.68 ounces, stamped with the names of two of most prominent of the California pioneer coiners. The men had been essential in the world of the San Francisco economy and finance in the years before the Central America sank. Coins they made were well-known in numismatic circles. Breen had two $50 octagonal "slugs" from Augustus Humbert sitting on the desk in front of him as James handed him the ingot.

There was a brief silence while the man who had seen everything looked startled, maybe a little confused. He perused the bar with the lowest power on his magnifier pendant. Then he looked wistfully into the distance, then back at the gold without the magnifier, as he pondered the famous names stamped into the shine.

This excerpt recounts key moments in numismatic history, and has special significance to me as I had gotten to meet and know Ford and Breen "back in the day" and in more recent years gotten to meet and know Bob Evans as well. The S.S. Central America discovery and salvage was a watershed moment, and knowing all three personalities makes these events really come alive for me. -Editor