Best of The West - February 2014

1855 Exquisitely handwritten letter from William Roberts, at Fort Point, California, July 26th, 1855, to his son Willie in S. Scituate, Rhode Island.

1862 This is a lot of five original counterfeit bills that were put into circulation during the War Between the States. There are two three dollar bi

1907 This piece of scrip was issued by the Oakland Clearing House on November 1, 1907. It is signed by Secretary George Meredith and the President of

The certificate is among the most important of all non-coin ephemera from the California gold rush coiners, because this company had the goal of produ

Obverse features a Mexican eagle with rabbit in talons. Reverse features ornately machined concentric circles with “50” in cenetr. Usually found with

c1850 Adams & Company, an express and forwarding agency of Boston opened a San Francisco office in October, 1849. D.H. Haskell was in charge. T...

c1850 Rare item from this obscure bank. Dunbar established this bank in 1850, where he redeemed at par the gold coins of Baldwin & Co. In 1851,...

c1850 Between 1849 and 1852 five express companies were put in operation in San Francisco. These Were Adams & Co., Page Bacon & Co., Palmer...

1819 Hentsch & Berton were the successors in 1863 to Henry Hentsch's banking and assay business in San Francisco. Hentsch was born in Genev...

c1850 Page, Bacon & Co. opened an express office in San Francisco in 1849. Although presumably a local concern, this company was in reality a b...