Catalog Archive
Auction 177, Lot 769

"[California 49er Gold Rush Note and Adventures] ",

Subject: Document - California 49er

Period: 1849 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
7.6 x 3.2 inches
19.3 x 8.1 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

This five line manuscript note is signed by Zaccheus Phillips and dated October 6, 1849 in Lynn, Massachusetts. It conveyed a one-thirty-sixth share of proceeds from Phillips “California adventure” in exchange for twenty-five dollars. Unlike most such notes where the subsequent outcome is unknown, a government document from 1878 includes Phillips’ affidavit of his time in California and the even more exciting adventure of his return.

The affidavit indicates he was about 31 years old when he set off for California and spent 5 or 6 years mining there. He sailed from San Francisco in October, 1855 and arrived in Nicaragua in the midst of a Central American war. When their ship was fired upon from a fort, passengers were forced to disembark at the steamboat company’s warehouse. They were then met by a volley of shots from Costa Rican soldiers. Phillips escaped through the warehouse into the woods and returned later to find a fellow passenger wounded. He assisted him in returning to a ship that took them to Granada where the wounded passenger was hospitalized and Phillips then “came on directly to New York.” Phillips returned to Lynn and gave his current occupation in the affidavit as fisherman.

Much can be gleaned from this fascinating item including the cost of going to California by boat from Massachusetts was $900, that selling shares was one way of financing the trip, and that long distance travel at the time could be very perilous indeed. The affidavit and complete government document, Message from the President…Communicating, …information in relation to the claims of John G. Kendrick and others against the Government of Nicaragua (p. 40, Sen. Ex. Doc. 3, 45th Congress, 3rd Session) can be found here.

References:

Condition: B+

Very legible with fold lines and some light toning along the right side of the sheet.

Estimate: $200 - $250

Sold for: $70

Closed on 4/29/2020

Archived