Authentic California Gold Rush gold ore nuggets originally discovered by Old West prospectors then lost at sea for 157 years after the 1857 sinking of the fabled "Ship of Gold," the SS Central America, are finally available to collectors.
Each nugget contains between .031 to 0.40 grams of California Gold Rush gold. To ensure their historic sunken treasure pedigree, the nuggets have been certified for authenticity and encapsulated by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC).
They are now being offered exclusively by Asset Marketing Services (www.govmint.com/goldnuggets) of Burnsville, Minnesota.
"The nuggets were discovered aboard the fabulous SS Central America treasure carefully retrieved in 2014. They were contained in miners’ gold field pokes (small satchels or pouches usually made of buckskin, canvas or leather) inside a leather saddlebag found inside the purser’s safe. These historic nuggets originally were mined by courageous pioneers who dug for gold during the heydays of the California Gold Rush. This gold was undisturbed and untouched for a century and a half," explained Dwight Manley, managing partner of the California Gold Marketing Group.
Manley’s group acquired all of the recovered sunken treasure from the last expedition to the legendary sidewheel steamship in 2014 as well as most of the treasure from earlier recovery missions.
The nuggets were being taken to New York City in September 1857 when the ship sank more than 7,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane off the North Carolina coast. This is the first time these recovered gold nuggets have been made available to collectors.
"The response from customers has been overwhelming," Asset Marketing Services stated. "Many of our collectors instantly recognized the unique opportunity these certified SS Central America nuggets provided; the opportunity to acquire genuine California Gold Rush gold nuggets with the most clear and compelling provenance of any Gold Rush nuggets to date."
The initial offering to customers included the "Top 100" nuggets ranked by size, as well as a second group of slightly smaller nuggets with the same NGC certification.
"These initial offerings sold out very quickly, but we have reserved additional S.S. Central America gold nuggets for release in the near future. Any collectors interested in obtaining them can visit the special SSCA Nuggets website page for more information and contact details at www.govmint.com/goldnuggets."
Each encapsulated nugget will come with a velvet pouch and an informative booklet about the California Gold Rush, the nuggets and the fabled Ship of Gold, the SS Central America.
ABOUT Asset Marketing Services, LLC
Since 1984, Asset Marketing Services, LLC (AMS) has provided collectors, history buffs and others with the finest products the numismatic world has to offer, from 2,000-year-old ancient coins to the latest three-dimensional works of modern coin art. Their brands (GovMint.com and ModernCoinMart) combine to make AMS one of the world’s largest direct-to-consumer marketers or rare and collectible coins
