2020

Sam Brannan Gold Brooch with Gold-Quartz Pendant, S.S. Central America Treasure [146639]

Currency:USD Category:Jewelry / Vintage & Antique Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD
Sam Brannan Gold Brooch with Gold-Quartz Pendant, S.S. Central America Treasure [146639]
SOLD
41,000.00USD+ (8,200.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2023 Mar 04 @ 14:18UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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Large 18 K gold brooch consisting of a buckle-like piece at the top from which hangs a 28 x 24 x 4 mm piece of gold-bearing white quartz set in a hinged mount so the stone can rotate on a horizontal axis to see both sides. Overall length of the brooch is 77 x 48 mm. The presence of the buckle suggests that it may have held a colored ribbon of some sort which then draped behind and below the stone to highlight it. The back of the buckle is engraved "A. Roediger / from his little pupil / Sam Brannan Jr. / California"

This brooch has major significance in California history. Clearly this unique piece was made specifically for California pioneer Sam Brannan for the purpose of giving it to his son, Sam Brannan, Jr. (1845-1931), as a gift for his favorite teacher, incorporating a piece of high grade gold quartz signifying the great California Gold Rush .

Sam Brannan, California's Golden Boy
Fred N. Holabird

According to historian Hubert Bancroft, Sam Brannan (1819-1889) was California's first millionaire. Brannan left New York in 1846 in charge of a ship full of 300. Brannan brought with him his wife Ann and son Sam Jr. (b1845). Mormons escaping persecution after the murder of Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois. Brannan and crew, with knowledge of the Mexican War, had hoped to overthrow the local Mexican regime at Yerba Buena (later San Francisco), but arrived two days after the feat was accomplished by Mexican War US Navy Captain John Montgomery and others. Brannan had brought with him a printing press, on which he printed the California Star, the first newspaper in California.

Brannan opened a store in Sutter's Fort, the very same store where James Marshall took that first gold nugget in 1848. Within a few days of the discovery, he was off to the mill where he reportedly mined a small bag of gold, then rode around San Francisco, later claiming he was the first to pass the news to the city. The 300 Mormons he had brought into Yerba Buena had added to the thirty families already there (in 18460, and after the news of gold spread, he said there were but seven men left in town, with three hundred taking flight to the gold country. While historical accounts differ, Brannan appears to have levied a "tithe" of sorts on his Mormon brethren at the gold fields. When Brigham Young heard of it, he sent a collector to receive the money, but Brannan refused to hand it over. He was excommunicated as a result.

His biographer, Cal Tech author Milton Balch in 1925 summed it up succinctly: "he was a gambler, and a banker, merchant and hotel owner, importer and exporter, gold digger and real estate speculator."

As the Gold Rush took off, Brannan quickly became active in politics. With law and order in disarray and lacking a good local government, Brannan and others became furious. A band of thieves known as "The Regulators" created a "reign of terror" and were the "Klansmen of their day" according to Balch. Brannan and friends organized the "Argonauts" and they brought down the group. Within a year, Brannan helped form the first Vigilance Committee in 1851, He railed against paying taxes, claiming the government was too corrupt and the money went into pocketbooks, not into public service.

Over time, he became a wealthy real estate magnate.

Brannan was one of the founders of the 1851 San Francisco Vigilance Committee (Member #2.). He, S.E. Woodworth and E. Gorham formed the committee on June 9, 1851 at the California Engine House. It was later reported that he was the first president. That day, about 200 men attended the meeting and signed their names to the constitution of the organization. Within a short period through March, 1852, 716 men had signed up, each at a fee to the organization of $5. Members of the 1851 Committee were among the most influential of the City: John L. Moffat, James King of William, bankers F. Argenti, Palmer, Parrott, and Naglee. Future Comstock millionaire John O. Earl was a member. While Brannan was a founder, he had work to do in the private sector, and did not involve himself in the management of the Vigilance Committee. Woodworth, officially member #1, was very much involved, as was William T. Coleman, a commission merchant and New York shipping magnate. Brannan's first involvement came July 18, when he was a member of the committee approving eight members. Because Woodworth was not part of that group, there exists the possibility that Woodworth asked Brannan to step in in his stead. Brannan did not participate again until Aug 26, 1851 when they approved another group of 6. (see Garnett, P., Papers of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1851, 1910.)

With all of the unrest in San Francisco, Ann and the children left for Geneva, Switzerland in 1854, with enough money to live the highlife. Sam Brannan had become fed-up with local politics, and the overall nature of how San Francisco had turned into a town of drinking, gambling and lawlessness. Brannan probably chose to have his wife and child live in a more calm, sane and better social setting, so he chose Geneva. Here, his son and daughters could thrive in a better social and educational world.

On Nov. 18 1855, Gen. Richardson was shot dead by Charles Cora. The public was outraged, and expressed regrets that the Vigilance Committee had disbanded. Many of the old Vigilance Committee gathered at the Oriental saloon in San Francisco that night. Brannan delivered a speech in support of law being efficiently executed in the efficiency of the trial. The killing of Richardson led to the formation of the Vigilance Committee of 1856. Undoubtedly Brannan was a member of the 1856 Vigilance Committee though no list of members has ever been published. (See Smith, Vigilance Committee of 1856, 1883)

By 1859, Brannan was at a height of popularity and wealth. It seemed he could do no wrong. Having implemented a tremendous vision regarding the growth of San Francisco and utilizing that growth and vision to make himself a financial windfall, Brannan came up with yet another big plan. He purchased a huge tract of land in Napa Valley inclusive of the springs at the north end (today known as Calistoga), His intent was to turn it into another Saratoga Springs--a New York health resort region that was tremendously successful. He poured money into it. He borrowed more. He built distilleries, created new businesses, all the while reportedly imbibing in his own products a bit "too much." He may have had a fling with actress Lola Montez, who reporters thought bled his pocketbooks dry. His wife divorced him.

All did not go well for Brannan. While he was a successful real estate magnate and wealthy landowner, his drinking and irresponsible business behavior and rumored involvement with Lola Montez caused his marriage to fail. He was forced to pay half of his estate to his wife in cash, forcing complete liquidation of all his holdings. The estate liquidation nearly killed him mentally and physically. In 1860 he moved to remote San Diego County. Roughly a decade later, he sobered up, paid most or all of his debts, but died a poor man in 1889.

This spectacular California gold quartz brooch was undoubtedly made for young Sam Brannan Jr. by his father. It was clearly intended to show off the beauty of the native rock that was making so many people wealthy. It was engraved on the back to celebrate the owner and his lineage.

Sam Brannan, Jr. went to school in Geneva and became a mineralogist and/or mining engineer, working in Mexico his entire career, until the collapse of the international silver market in 1896 broke him financially. He moved back to New York, where he died in 1931 and was buried next to his father.

It does not appear that Sam Jr. ever came back to California to visit his father. A. Roediger, to whom the brooch is dedicated, apparently was a teacher at the school Sam attended in Geneva, and no record of him being in California or the United States has yet been found. Neither of the Brannans was on the S.S. Central America, so this custom piece of gold jewelry was either in transit to Geneva by mail, by an express service, or was being carried by a personal friend of Brannan's to then be shipped from New York or personally delivered to the teacher in Geneva.

Interestingly, Brannan family records indicate that two of the early Brannan biographies were "fiction." Some of the Brannan family papers survive in institutional holdings.

Provenance: SS Central America Collection