In one of the most well conceived entrepreneurial numismatic ventures of all time, the Kellogg & Company $50 Gold Gem Proof Commemorative Restrike was born. Utilizing 69 genuine and historic “Gold Rush” gold ingots originally assayed by John G. Kellogg’s firm in San Francisco in the 1850’s and recovered from the famous SS Central America shipwreck, the California Historic Society paired with Dwight Manley to engineer this marvelous commemorative.

Each of the hefty 5,000 gem proof specimens issued in this limited edition was struck at the Presidio in San Francisco from August 20 to September 12, 2001 using an original vintage San Francisco Mint press. The dates are notable as they represent the 144th anniversary of the days this very gold was in transit from San Francisco to New York before it was lost at sea. Transfer dies were created from an original pair of dies engraved by Ferdinand Gruner in 1855 for Kellogg & Co. The words “SS Central America Gold – CHS” were added to the ribbon on the reverse. Through this remarkable good fortune, original gold could be married with the original dies to commemorate both Kellogg’s famous private issue coin as well as the “Ship of Gold” treasure. Furthermore, each and every coin was counter-stamped by hand with the exact date it was struck.

Specifications of the 1855 Kellogg $50 Commemorative Restrike: • 2.5 Troy Ounces of .887 Fine Gold recovered from SS Central America shipwreck • Struck in San Francisco utilizing vintage original San Francisco Mint press • Limited Edition of 5,000 – Each counter-stamped with date of striking • Gem Proof • PCGS certified

The Original Kellogg $50 Gold “Quintuple” Eagle
In his day John G. Kellogg was the most prominent private coiner in San Francisco. He arrived there in the midst of the Gold Rush on October 12, 1849 from Auburn, New York and took a job working for Moffat & Co. Moffat would later enter into a contract with the United States government to establish an assay office. After the United States Assay Office of Gold closed on December 14, 1853 in preparation for the coming San Francisco Mint, Kellogg set about opening his own private firm.

On December 19, 1853 he partnered with G.F. Richter, an assayer he had worked with at the U.S. Assay Office, and opened Kellogg & Richter. On February 9, 1854, Kellogg & Co. would release their first coin. In late 1854, Kellogg would dissolve his firm and partner with Augustus Humbert, the former U.S. Assayer of Gold, and form Kellogg & Humbert. Despite the fact that the San Francisco Mint was now in full production, Kellogg issued coins bearing the date 1855 including the famous and extremely rare 1855 $50 Gold “Quintuple” Eagle.

Only 10-12 piece are known which lends credibility to the concept that these were minted for presentation rather than for circulation. They are extremely popular with collectors and when seen offered bring strong six-figure prices.

The Gold Rush
On January 24, 1848 gold was discovered at Captain John A. Sutter’s mill and the course of American history would be forever altered. The great California Gold Rush was on. Prospectors and fortune hunters from around the globe flocked to the West. By the summer of 1849, tens of thousands of these newcomers had arrived but there was a shortage of circulating coinage to facilitate commerce and gold dust was the order of the day to settle debts or purchase goods and services.
Private firms soon sprung up such as Moffat & Company, Pacific Company, J.S. Ormsby and others to meet the demand for coinage. In 1851, Moffat entered into a contract with the United States Government to establish what came to be known as the U.S. Assay Office of Gold. Large bricks or “slugs” were produced affording a convenient way to transport gold from place to place in quantity.
In 1854, the San Francisco Mint opened its doors utilizing facilities formerly occupied by the U.S. Assay Office of Gold. To a large extent this ended the need for private issues but some such as Kellogg persisted in the short term to produce coinage and ingots and to assay gold.

The SS Central America
As the years passed, many of the prospectors and speculators decided to head back East with their fortunes. The route most often taken was by boat to Panama City, where they then crossed the isthmus to Aspinwall by train and boarded a ship bound for New York.
On August 20, 1857, hundreds of passengers with their personal fortunes boarded the SS Sonora, anchored in San Francisco, to make just such a trip. Also on board was a cargo of some $2.6 million dollars (1857 value) in gold comprised of thousands of freshly minted 1857-S double eagles, other gold coins, gold ingots and gold in various other forms.
Upon arriving in Panama City, passengers and cargo transferred to train and made the trek to Aspinwall where they then boarded the SS Central America.

The SS Central America, formerly known as the SS George Law, was a side-wheel steamer on its forty-fourth voyage for the Atlantic Mail Steamship Company. As was the order of the day, she was heavily laden with passengers and cargo to maximize the profit from each voyage. She departed and on September 7, 1857 briefly docked at Havana, Cuba under sunny skies before continuing on toward New York. On September 9, 1857 the weather turned and the seas came alive. By September 11, 1857 the SS Central America was in the midst of a ferocious hurricane and taking on water. Despite a valiant effort from her crew, on September 12, 1857 she was lost to the sea and came to rest in 7,000+ feet of water roughly 160 miles off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, her amazing treasure of gold still tucked in her hold. Worse still, of the nearly 600 souls on board, only 153 were pulled from the water. The “Ship of Gold”, as she came to be known, had been lost.

For more than 125 years the treasure carried aboard the SS Central America lay quietly at the bottom of the ocean. Fast forward to the 1980’s, when a group of Columbus, Ohio men known as the Columbus-America Discovery Group took up the challenge of finding the lost ship. After years of painstaking research and pursuit, the “Ship of Gold” was located and gold ingots assayed by John G. Kellogg were among the vast treasure recovered from her. Some of these same ingots were melted and used to create the commemorative restrike pieces offered by the California Historical Society in 2001.