Is this the bullion used to make pre-1933 gold coins?

I was just browsing Heritage Auctions, something I do regularly, and I came across this gold ingot bar from 1855.

It says it’s ~160 oz of .891 fine gold.

Is this a bar that the mint would have used to make things like $10 Gold Eagles and $5 Half Eagles?

Apparently it was worth $2,958 in 1855 dollars.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Look at the top right.
It looks like someone took a corner off.

 

Well I mean it was found in the shipwreck of the SS Central America so my guess is that it was damaged somehow whether it was during the wreck itself or during the 100+ years between the wreck and the discovery.

Like maybe it banged up against something. Gold is super soft so it wouldn’t take much.

 

I wonder what it weighs right now, still the same....or less?

 

Well HA listed it as 160.64 troy ounces just like it is stamped on the bar.

Right now it has a bid of $270,000 which is hilarious because it’s less than gold melt value xD

 

I believe that that is just the fineness of the ingot. Honestly though,I am not sure. I would imagine that the mint used .9999 pure gold and added the copper at the mint for the correct purity and weight.

 

Hmm I guess I just figured maybe that’s why this bar was refined to only .891 fineness rather than .999.

Then I wondered if that’s why it says “$2,958” like it’s sort of telling the mint “This ingot can be made into $2,958 in gold coinage”.

 

Gold coins are made of .900 fine gold not .891 fine.

 

I wouldn’t know as I wasn’t alive in 1855.

 

does ha list the dimensions for this bar
??

 

That is a sign of authenticity. The assayer did his work, then cut a small corner off as his payment. All authentic such items has a corner missing, it was common and expected. Find one without it and its most likely a fake.

 

That would make the bar weight less if clipped after the assessment.

Very cool bar though, maybe the authentic barnicals make up the weight loss

 

Yes it does. Everyone using these bars knew the assays took his cut post certification. It has been that way a very long time. I do not know when it stopped.

 

No, I believe the US Mint assayed their own Gold it was getting from different States throughout the US. I'm sure I read about it in "History of the US Mint and Coinage by Evans!" One is for sale right now if anyone is interested!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255041032062?hash=item3b61a14f7e:g:a9QAAOSwN1Bg4dpk