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San Francisco,CA - c1829-1851 - DuBosq, Theodore Silver Spoons :

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Silver Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,200.00 USD
San Francisco,CA - c1829-1851 - DuBosq, Theodore Silver Spoons :
Three beautiful silver teaspoons with pointed bowls. The handles are engraved in script with the letters L.A.B. circled by a garland of leaves. Marked T. DuBosq on the reverse. Each spoon measures approx 6" long. Theodore Dubosq was a jeweler in Philadelphia who made silver products around c1830-1850. He travelled with his sons to California on a ship named the Grey Eagle in May of 1849 and the Alta California Newspaper reported that he brought machinery for striking private coinage. At the time there was a desperate need for coinage in the west as the California Gold Rush brought more people and riches to the western states than the U.S. Mint could accommodate with coin. It is not known if Theodore Dubosq, Sr. Struck coins in 1849 or not, but in 1850 he went into business with Mr. Goodwin and out of that partnership grew one of the more respected firms which issued private gold coins in California. Dubosq & Company made $150,000 worth of coins carrying the 1850 date and James King of William, along with Augustus Humbert, favorably valued the worth of Dubosq coins. In 1851 the Alta California published a paper written from Dubosq to famous coiner Humbert, which urged that the value of silver content in coins should be made public (along with the value of gold). Humberts reply was that the cost to part the silver from the gold was more than the value of the silver, and therefore he didn't consider silver to be any more valuable than copper. This caused most private gold coins, except those of Moffat & Co. to be discredited, including the once popular and widely circulated Dubosq coins. Most Dubosq coinage was melted soon after due to their high gold and silver content. The dies were later used by Wass, Molitor & Co. and one such coin, which was struck with a Dubosq & Co. die was found on the sunken S. S. Central America. Because of Dubosq's fame as a respected private gold coiner in the California Gold Rush, his silver items are highly collectible.