Justh & Hunter, San Francisco and Marysville. Gold ingot. · No. 4351. · $365.15. · 889 Fine. · 19.87 Oz. (CAGB-358)

Justh & Hunter $365.15 Gold Ingot

Details

Justh & Hunter, San Francisco and Marysville. Gold ingot. · No. 4351. · $365.15. · 889 Fine. · 19.87 Oz. (CAGB-358)
Length: 43.1 mm. Width: 61.7 mm. Depth: 13.4 mm. Face: No. 4351 JUSTH & HUNTER 19.87 OZS. 889 FINE. $365.15. Back: 51. All other sides are blank. Small wedge from upper left corner of face and another from lower right corner of back (when viewed from face) taken for assayer's purposes. Bright yellow gold with some mahogany patination in the punched elements. Splashes of bright orange iridescence adorn most other sides.

Further details

History of Justh & HunterSan Francisco and Marysville Emanuel Justh, a lithographer by trade and Hungarian by birth, and partner Solomon Hunter, a Baltimore merchant, formed an assaying partnership on Montgomery Street in San Francisco in May 1855. It was an unlikely partnership: Hunter, then 22 years of age, had arrived in San Francisco in March 1855, embarking from Baltimore onboard the S.S. George Law (later renamed the S.S. Central America.) Meanwhile, Justh had been in San Francisco since November 1850 and enjoyed a year-long tenure at the nascent San Francisco Mint that ended five days before the Justh and Hunter partnership was officially launched. The business was announced in the May 15, 1855 issue of the Alta California with a letter of recommendation from San Francisco Mint Superintendent Louis Birdsall and United States Assayer Agoston Haraszthy (formerly of Wass, Molitor, & Co.). Birdsall and Haraszthy cited Justh as a "competent and faithful assayer;" though, previous to his year's experience at the Mint, he had worked in the lithography business and with a brokerage and never had any metalwork or chemistry on his resume. Hunter seems to have had little skill in the business save a knack for enterprise and a sense of ambition. Both skills served him well in his time in San Francisco; by 1860 he had already returned to Baltimore with a net worth of $10,000. The Justh and Hunter business succeeded well, assaying millions of dollars in gold in just over two years of activity and opening a Marysville branch office in May 1856. After forming a short-lived partnership which included another former S.C. Wass associate named Charles Uznay in May 1857, Justh and Hunter reformed their partnership that August and again worked together until July 1858. They attracted business by paying out freshly minted San Francisco double eagles no doubt acquired through Justh's former associates at the Mint. Since the gold treasure of the S.S. Central America left aboard the S.S. Sonora (which had transported Solomon Hunter from Panama to San Francisco in February 1855) on August 20th and the Justh and Hunter resumed their business under that name on August 15th, it is possible that some bars from the second manifestation of Justh and Hunter were among the cargo of the Central America. There were two distinct groups of Justh and Hunter bars on board: those whose serial numbers are in the 4000 range and those in the 9000 range. The possibility that one group represents the first manifestation and the other the second manifestation is idle conjecture, though assuming that a consecutive numbering system remained during the intervening partnership it is a possibility. Little known among numismatists until the discovery of the Central America, Justh and Hunter was obviously a well-respected and well-connected enterprise despite their youth and comparative lack of experience. It is interesting to note that four out of the five largest bars discovered on board the S.S. Central America were assayed by Justh and Hunter, a tribute to the unassailable quality of their assays and their reputation among major depositors. Regarding differentiation between San Francisco and Marysville ingots, research is ongoing. The listings of ingots given as an appendix shows two different serial number sequences, perhaps indicating a run of ingots from San Francisco and another run from Marysville.