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Geo. E. Rogers Assay Office - Gold Receipt, rec'd from L.B. Benchley & Co. 1866 [169264]

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Ingots Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 900.00 USD
Geo. E. Rogers Assay Office - Gold Receipt, rec'd from L.B. Benchley & Co.  1866  [169264]

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Geo. E. Rogers, Successor to Assay Office of Sanderson & Co., San Francisco, CA, Assay receipt dated Oct. 3, 1866, for 11.67 ounces of Gold from L.B. Benchley & Co. importers and jobbers of American and Foreign Hardware, Cutlery, Farmers’, Mechanics, & Miners’ Tools. (see advertisement on p. lxv of Langley’s San Francisco Business Directory for the year 1866, commencing December 1865). The Office is located at 512 California Street. The assay was probably for Gold dust and or nuggets as it was melted and assayed 739/1000 in Gold. George E. Rogers and L.A. Sanderson took over the Assay Office of G.W. Bell located at 512 California Street after he was killed in a huge Nitroglycerin explosion on April 16th, 1866. (See California Coiners and Assayers by Dan Owens, 2000.). L. A. Sanderson was previously a bookkeeper with Dickenson & Gammins wholesale groceries and provisions and George E. Rogers was a clerk working for G.W. Bell (see p.378 and 387 of Langley’s 1866 cited above. Evidently Rogers bought out Sanderson who appears to have been the source of funding when both took over G. W. Bells Assay operations after the April accident earlier in the year. The title of the receipt in blue on white paper is “Assay Office of Sanderson & Co”. with a red printed legend on top “Geo. E. Rogers, Successor to”. This indicates that this Assay receipt form lasted probably less than one year, as later Geo. E. Rogers’ receipts are entitled “Assay Office of Geo. E. Rogers, Successor to G.W. Bell. Also, the vignette of Lady Justice and Scales are identical in Sanderson’s and the latter Rogers’ receipts. The Sanderson & Co. without the red imprint of “Geo. E. Rogers, Successor to” is unknown and must have existed only a few months. Size: 10.5 x 5.25 inches Litho by Deffebach’s Print. Extremely rare. Size: 10.625 x 5.25 inches. San Francisco California Franklin Collection