Gold @ $8565 an ounce! SS Central America treasure 'Eureka' gold bar sells for a cool eight million dollars Barb Moriarty November 10, 2001 A Barbaric Relic for a Billionaire A Kellogg and Humbert California Gold Rush bar that had spent virtually all of its life at the bottom of the ocean with the wreck of SS Central America was sold privately last week (Nov 2001) for 8 million dollars. The awesome 'gold brick' was purchased by a "Forbes 400 business executive,'' according to Michael Carabini, president of Monaco Financial, who handled the incredible sale. The Gold Brick Known as Eureka, it is the largest-known gold bar to come out of the California Gold Rush and at 933.94oz is the size of a loaf of bread. The value in 1857 was $17,433.57, and as with most ingots of that era the dollar value is stamped on the bar. It would have taken six miners a whole year of 12-hour day's hard sweat and toil to produce the gold for that bar. Eureka holds two records; the highest weight and highest stamped value, and it is so large that it required two hallmark stamps of the assayer. Many refer to the ingot as The Crown Jewel from the Ship of Gold, which was in fact the name of Gary Kinder's great book about the SS Central America. (As I write - Nov 10, 2001 - Amazon have the hardback on sale for $5.99!). The Disaster Eureka is the pièce de résistance of the Central America's treasure. In 1857 the "Passenger and gold-ship" as she was known, was on her way to New York when on Sep 11th (another 911) a hurricane damaged the ship, which sank the next day about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C. More than 400 people died (153 were saved) and the ship and her $1.6 million cargo ended up 8,000ft below the waves. The Panic of 1857 The gold was being shipped to New York banks, which were suffering a run on their assets following the collapse of the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. Banks that had loaned funds to Ohio Life suddenly found themselves overextended. In turn they called in matured loans from their debtors, and the domino effect began. As word spread, more and more depositors demanded their gold from the banks. Bankers were worried sick and had hoped that the expected gold shipment aboard the Central America would alleviate the problem. California gold had fueled the country's economy since its discovery in 1849, and the disaster came at a perilous time and threatened to take the financial underpinnings of the United States with it. Despite the shipwreck being the worst peacetime maritime disaster in American history, with the appaling loss of lives, the newspapers gave a lot of prominance to the appaling loss of wealth! Indeed "TOTAL LOSS OF THE TREASURE" was the New York Times headline of Sept 19th 1857. The Panic of 1857 took hold, ruining both men and businesses. And despite attempts to locate the wreck the Central America remained beyond the reach of man and his technology, lost in the unfathomable depths of the Atlantic, ever elusive, for over one hundred and thirty years. The Salvage In August 1987, there were rumors that the long-lost ship had been found, but it was not until a year later that the find was confirmed, and once again the Central America and all that gold captured the imagination of the public. The salvage and recovery of the Central America were carried out by Tommy Thompson and the Columbus-America Discovery Group, (161 Ohio investors with a $12 million dollar stake) utilizing a remarkable 'robot' named Nemo. Nemo weighed six tons and looked like a cardboard box which'd had random bits and pieces of scrap metal and electronics glued to it. Nemo, despite its ungainly appearance utilized 3-dimensional video imaging and carried an array of lights, lobster-like arms and a vacuum. The first gold ingots were spotted in 1988. Amidst rotted wood, scattered gold dust, and coins lay Gold Rush bars, some glinting brilliantly in the glare of Nemo's lights. For 11 years three tons of gold bars and coins from the Central America, worth about $100 million, lay in vaults in Norfolk and Chesapeake while lawyers fought over who would keep them. It was the longest-running case in Norfolk's federal court. Obviously the decendants of the original insurance companies felt they had a rightful claim to a share of the treasure. Indeed, in 1857, because the nation was in a panic about the loss of the gold, the insurers had pulled out the stops, and had paid up almost instantly. (The London Insurance Company paid Wells Fargo $150,000 within 3 hours after notification of the loss in 1857, such was their need to reassure the restless community). The rest of the treasure was finally sold to the California Gold Marketing Group, the group of private investors who sold the 8 million dollar 'brick' last week. Eureka, and many other gold bars, coins and nuggets of the Central America treasure have traveled the nation and have been the highlight of museum exhibitions and tv spots. Thousands of people have been inspired, by the awesome gold, to become collectors of rare gold coins and ingots. The Auction Eight percent of the Central America treasure had been awarded to the original insurers, and it was given to Sotheby's for auction, originally scheduled for Dec 1999, but then postphoned until June of last year. (June 2000) The appeals court stopped the auction one day before it was to begin. The auction catolog itself was a treasure; one beautiful publication with the most wonderful photographs and over 200 pages. Incidentally the most expensive of the pieces sold at the Sotheby's auction fetched $308,000. Lot #92 - a Justh and Hunter gold bar 652.84ozs - 896 FINE / $12091.90. Do the math, the 652 oz bar went for $308,000 at the auction - The 933.94 oz Eureka sold for $8 million. Eight million - that is $8,565 an ounce! Barbaric relic? duh. --Barb Moriarty November 10, 2001 Copyright ©2001 321gold Inc. All Rights Reserved