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c1871 - Currier and Ives Lithograph "Gold Mining in California" :

Currency:USD Category:Art / Medium - Lithographs Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
c1871 - Currier and Ives Lithograph   Gold Mining in California  :
Original hand-colored. Titled “Gold Mining in California.” Measures 14” x 10.” The border has most likely been trimmed, is yellowing and has some foxing. The left border has a tear half way down. The lithograph itself is undamaged, however. Not mounted nor framed. On the border on the left side are the words, “Published by Currier & Ives.” Words in the middle of the border state “Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1871 by Currier & Ives in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington." On the left side of the border the address is given as “125 Nassau St. New York.” This scene is rather realistic in that it shows all the things miners did in California during the Gold Rush. However, not all miners did all of these gold extracting techniques as close together as these miners are in the lithograph. It depicts miners who are using hydraulic mining, panning, using sluices and rockers as well as digging with shovels and pick axes to find gold. The color most used here is green, which means the artist did not have a grasp on the true natural Mediterranean environment of California, especially that of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Also rendered in the scene are several miners’ cabins. This scene is rather bucolic when taking in the actual history of a mostly male population who worked off of vigilante justice in the beginning.

James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma on January 24, 1848 before California was properly an American Territory, given that the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), was not signed until February of 1848. Word was not released to people back east about the discovery until a newspaper article appeared in late August. Officially, President James K. Polk announced the discovery was not just rumor but legitimate in December of 1848. The news set off a world wide event that brought many people from the eastern United States and aboad, to California to find their fortunes. Out of that wild, rough and tumble American beginning, a mighty state grew.