A Gold Rush Amalgam Ball

The little gold sphere pictured above is an amalgam ball recovered from the SS Central America. For those unfamiliar with the tragic story of the SS Central America, she was a side wheel steam ship which sank off the east coast in the summer of 1857, taking with her over 400 lives and tons of California gold in the form of dust, nuggets, coins, bars. Other treasures included and these unique little amalgam balls. This specimen was sold at the Sotheby's SS Central America Sale, held in June of 2000. 

The Sotheby's auction catalog described the few existing amalgam balls as ". . . the result of one of the oldest means of separating gold dust with the surrounding detritus. The recovered material is mixed with mercury. This attracts, indeed assimilates the gold: the pasty mass is washed to remove valueless concentrations and then within a tightly woven fabric or chamois the mercury is squeezed out (leaving the outer surface pattern); finally the ball must have the remaining mercury burned off. One of the frequent prospectors methods was to have a potato, scoop a hollow out of the center, place the ball within, rejoin the halves, and "bake" it for three quarters of an hour in the campfire. This removed the remaining mercury, leaving a ball of nearly pure gold. (The potato, was not, however, fit for eating)".

I remember having a conversation with Bob Evans, who was the lead scientist for the Columbus America Discovery Group, the team who discovered and salvaged the ship wreck. He was at a large booth at the Long Beach coin show featuring the Ship of Gold exhibit, along with many bars and coins which would eventually be released for sale. I was thrilled to talk with him, as he has had more hands on experience with the treasure than just about anyone. When I told him I owned one of the amalgam balls, he recalled how he and his team discovered them.

The salvage took place under about 8,000 feet under water, and one of the submersable's equipment was a vacuum like device which brought buckets of ocean debris, gold dust, nuggets, and other items to the surface. Bob said that the balls were covered in encrustations and debris, and that the salvagers speculated the spheres were bullets or bearings. Only after closer inspection and a cleaning was their golden secret revealed. 

Disclaimer: I do not own many of the coins pictured on this website. My modest collection is kept in a bank safe deposit box at all times. I do enjoy examining and studying these fascinating coins and artifacts. If you have quality scans of California gold rush coins, artifacts, or assay receipts, I would love to see them for possible inclusion on my web site with or without a photo credit. Please e-mail to goofyft@aol.com. 

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