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G.W. Bell Assay Office - Gold Receipt, rec'd from D.O. Mills [169258]

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Ingots Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
G.W. Bell Assay Office - Gold Receipt, rec'd from D.O. Mills  [169258]
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Assay Office of G.W. Bell, 148 California Street, San Francisco, CA, 13-Apr-1859 No. 28 Memorandum of Gold Bullion Deposit by D.O. Mills, with the following assay results: Weight Before Melting 126.76 oz, After Melting 126.49 oz, Fineness .887, Value $2,277.41. Printers: Town & Beacon. Creme colored paper with black printing, with typical foxing and folds. In red ink is the notation on fees and the names of the Forrest Hill merchants, Hardy & Kennedy, (William H. Hardy & Samuel S, Kennedy, Reference Placer County Directory 1861) at the bottom. This certificate is an example of some of the great rarities that were produced by the Hardy & Kennedy archive of Forrest hill during the latter part of the gold rush. Assay Office of G. W. Bell, No. 148 California Street: Bell operated an assay office in San Francisco adjoining California Street from 1854 until the fateful day of April 16, 1866, when an unmarked container of nitroglycerine exploded, obliterating Bell, his assay office, and many innocent people in the surrounding area. ìThe explosion demolished everything within forty to fifty feet, including the whole interior of Bell's assay building, the storeroom and west portion of Wells Fargo & Co.'s building, the back portion of the Union Club and other apartments in the vicinity. Three weeks after the blast, Wells Fargo announced it would no longer carry nitroglycerine in its coaches. George Rogers bought what was left of Bell's assay business and continued business in the same location. [Ref: Placer Herald, Auburn, CA, April 21, 1866] Bell assay receipts are very popular and there are a couple of Bell assayer ingots known. The earliest G.W. Bell assay receipt known to the author is 1859. 1860 is probably an R7, as well as 1861 and 1862. 1863s are probably R5s. Bell used a very interesting format to discern different years of his assay receipts by using different color inks such that 1860 was red, 1863 purple, etc. All of the known assay sheet forms for Bell from 1863 and 1864 were pre-printed for the Savage Mining Company in Virginia City, as Bell apparently was one of the contract assayers for the Savage Mine. The Savage Mining Company records were released in the 1960's and have since been gobbled up by collectors and institutions. Size: 10.625 x 5.625 inches. San Francisco California 1859