1266

Red Wax Seal, Freeman & Co. Express [156840]

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 USD and UP
Red Wax Seal, Freeman & Co. Express [156840]
SOLD
130.00USD+ (26.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2022 Dec 03 @ 18:14UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
SHIPPING & HANDLING: The customer is responsible for all shipping and packaging charges. We offer shipping service as a convenience to our buyers. Items are not shipped until the invoice and shipping charges are completely paid. Shipping costs will be calculated and billed separately after your items have been paid for. Purchases will be shipped via our approved, insured carriers: FedEx, UPS, USPS or DHL. Pick up is available from our Reno office, once you have received your invoice post auction
Original red wax seal recovered from the S.S. Central America shipwreck. Imprinted with // Freeman & Co. / Express //, round, about 1" diameter. Seal circumference is not complete, small chips are missing from the side (see photo). The reverse of this seal helps tell the story. It has two, deeply impressed lines, indicative of leather or string ties that would have typically secured a gold bag of some kind, either a poke, a saddle bag seal, or a coin bag. If it was part of a treasure box seal, we would expect to see an imprint of a screw, the countersink for the screw in the wood, or an impression of the wood joints of the treasure box. The seal is important for many reasons. Freeman & Co. ran an express business in competition with Wells Fargo Express. Their gold cargo, like that of WF, was consigned by unknown companies, inclusive of banks. Freeman's business gained power almost parallel with Wells Fargo in the mid-1850s. There are artifacts in the S.S. Central America collection from four of the known gold shippers -- Wells Fargo Express; Alsop & Co.; Sather & Church; and Freeman & Co. Express.

Date: 1857
Country (if not USA):
State:
City:
Provenance: SS Central America Collection