1854 Gold, Quartz, Wood Presentation Cane....

 

1854 Gold, Quartz, Wood Presentation Cane. This is a phenomenally historic memento of the earliest days of the San Francisco Mint. Consigned by an Italian gentleman, the cane is 34 1/8 inches long, with a 15.4-mm diameter base, and a 41.6-mm diameter handle. The handle is gold, with an octagonal top composed of gold-laced quartz. The brass handle is formed from several panels. The inscriptions on the panels, alternating with scrollwork, include:

Presented to/Dr. L.A. Birdsall/Sup't U.S.B. Mint
By his friends/Wm M Lee/John Knox
HH Lawrence/George J Lee
Dec. 25th 1854

The lure of riches attracted vast quantities of prospectors, ne'er-do-wells, hangers-on, merchants, gamblers, miners, and 49ers to the rich California gold fields in 1849-50. The supply of circulating coinage was scarce, and the privately struck coins that did exist were typically underweight, if not drastically so, and met with widespread public distrust. The cost and danger of transporting gold to Philadelphia for coinage made it prohibitive.
On July 8, 1852, President Millard Fillmore signed an act authorizing a branch mint in California. Within a short time, Treasury Secretary Thomas Corwin chose San Francisco as the site. Despite numerous delays, setbacks, and governmental red tape, the San Francisco Mint struck its first coin, a proof double eagle, on April 3, 1854.
Dr. Lewis A. Birdsall (sometimes listed as "Robert Aiken Birdsall"), a native of Penn Yan, New York, was the first superintendent of the new branch mint, and he was undoubtedly present at the first striking of that proof 1854-S double eagle, which he presented to Mint Director James Ross Snowden. That coin is now in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Henry Hathaway Lawrence, also originally from Penn Yan (and thus a likely acquaintance of Birdsall's "back East"), arrived in California on June 16, 1849, aboard the bark Equator. After the Mint opened in 1854, Birdsall appointed Lawrence "conductor" (a combination doorman-receptionist-escort). He shortly afterward was promoted to the Assay Department. From July 1869-January 1871 he worked privately as an assayer for local San Francisco private assayers before returning to the Mint. In 1865 he was appointed assistant assayer, and he was named chief assayer on July 1, 1889, by President William Henry Harrison. In toto, Harrison spent about 40 years of his life working at the San Francisco Mint.
A John Jay Knox listed in Pete Smith's American Numismatic Biographies was born in Augusta, New York, in 1828. He held various banking positions in New York and Virginia and was a clerk for the U.S. Treasury Department from 1862-65, later writing a reference on U.S. paper money. We are unable to conclusively say if this gentleman is the John Knox who signed above, nor are we able to determine the identities of the two gentlemen surnamed Lee.
One can conjecture that the presentation of this wonderful cane to the superintendent of the first Western branch mint, at Christmastime after its first eight months of operation, was likely accompanied by dinner, cigars, brandy, and mutual gifts from Birdsall in return to his friends, a harbinger of long and mutually profitable associations. We simply cannot imagine another memento--outside of museum collections--of the first year of the San Francisco Mint that offers more charisma and historical importance than this piece. (#661000)

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