This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ... I. THE STATE ASSAY OFFICE OF CALIFORNIA. 1850. BY EDGAR H. ADAMS. NEW YORK. PRIVATE GOLD COINAGE. I. THE STATE ASSAY OFFICE OF CALIFORNIA. As the years gradually force farther into the background the worldfamous gold days of '49, the interest of students of American history in that important period of the nineteenth century becomes more pronounced, and every detail of those times when adventurers flocked to the Western El Dorado from all parts of the world, overland and by sea, is now beginning to attract attention. Conspicuous among the many novel features of California in the pioneer days is the gold currency, of various forms and denominations, made outside of Government authority from the gold taken from the placers of the Sierra Nevada mountains. At the time of the issue of this coinage there were so many happenings of greater importance that but little attention was paid to it except from the standpoint of utility. But now that all the great occurrences of the period of '49 have been noted, discussed, and assimilated, the less important happenings are beginning to rise to the surface, uppermost among which comes the unofficial gold coinage. So little familiar are we now-a-days with the conditions of the past in respect to private gold coinage that we view with astonishment the fact that such issues were freely made and as freely circulated; and there naturally ensues the desire to know why such coins were made, what were the circumstances that brought them into being, and why the Government took no steps to prevent their manufacture and circulation. As there were no less than fifteen establishments in California which from time to time made gold coins for circulation from 1849 to 1855, an exhaustive history of the operations of all...