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James Marshall, Discoverer of Gold in California, Autographed Card [129067]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:750.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,500.00 USD
James Marshall, Discoverer of Gold in California, Autographed Card  [129067]
SOLD
1,800.00USD+ (396.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2021 Feb 11 @ 14:17UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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Autographed card of James Marshall with vignette of Sutters Mill at leeft, "Discoverer of Gold in California, January 19th, 1848", signed Jas. W. Marshall."

Marshall, a partner of Sutter, was never the businessman some thought. He worked at a saw mill when there was no industry except the mill. Then he picked up a piece of gold, took it to Sutter, who hammered it mercilessly, dipped it in acid, and ran every test he could find to disprove that the metal nugget was gold. But it was, and the rest is history. Bancroft wrote of Sutter and MArshall: "In their intercourse with the outside world, althoughthey were adventurers, they proved themselves littel better than children, and as such, they were grossly misused by the gold-thirsting rabble brought down upon them by their discovery." (vVI, p99-100) Marshall returned to Coloma, the site of the discovery in 1857, where he remained. At one point he owned a small farm in Kelsey about three miles distant. He was hired to find gold for prospectors, was an "argumentative old cuss" and never married. In his last few years in Coloma, he sold autographs to help buy food. He died there in 1885 at 73. About a dozen or so of these exceptionally rare autographed cards still exist. A real photo post card is part of the group showing the mill, cabin, gold discovery monument, and Marhsall himself.

Date:
Country (if not USA):
State: California
City: Coloma
Provenance: