Ford once wrote a brief historical paper titled “Blake and Agnell: Pioneer Coiners and Assayers of Sacramento 1854-1862”. He once sold a 3 bar uncut stripe to Mrs. Norweb who bought it based on trust but later realized she had been duped and donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1970’s.
Blake & Agrell conducted business as a partnership in Sacramento in 1855. An advertisement noted:
Assay Office 52 J Street between 2nd and 3rd Sacramento. Blake & Agrell, having established themselves in the business of Melting, refining and Assaying of Gold and ore of every description, are now prepared and well qualified to execute business entrusted in them, faithfully and on the most reasonable terms … we guarantee the correctness of our assays and will pay all differences arising from the same with any of the United States Mints . . .
Later in the same year the partnership was dissolved, and a new firm, Blake & Co. was formed. This consisted of Gorham Blake and W.R. Waters. This firm produced various issues dated 1855 and 1856. The 1861 Sacramento City Directory still lists Blake & Co., consisting of Gorham Blake and W.R. Waters, but at 54 J Street. The firm apparently was dissolved in 1862, as a June 25, 1863 newspaper advertisement indicates: “Assay Office, Waters & Co. (late Blake & Co.), No. 52 J Street, Sacramento.” An account in the Weekly Mountaineer, a newspaper published in Dalles, Oregon, November 4, 1864, notes that samples of gold were sent to San Francisco from the Boise region to be analyzed in the laboratory of Professor Blake. Blake was a California pioneer, having arrived in that state comparatively early. In 1852 he was an agent of Adams & Co. at their Placerville office, according to a letter in the files of the Wells, Fargo Bank History Room, San Francisco.
Gorham Blake was a native of Boston, Massachusetts and died December 17, 1897, in Oakland, California, at the age of 68 years. Among his other activities he was an organizer and member of the Sacramento Committee of Vigilance.
Until recent years, very little about Blake & Agrell or Blake & Co. appeared in numismatic publications. Curiously “Agrell” is misspelled as “Agnell” on several known pieces. Genealogical records have been searched with limited success since 1975 for information concerning John Agrell/Agnell, who was Gorham Blake’s partner for only six weeks in 1855.
Blake & Agrell, Assayers, Sacramento. $23.30 gold ingot marked “Blake & Agnell”
Front of the ingot consists of a prepared stamp which reads in several lines: BLAKE / & / AGNELL / ASSAYERS / SAC.CAL. The edges are plain. The back consists of the following inscription from individual letter and numeral punches: 1 OZ 5 DWT / 22 CARAT / 23 DOLS 30 C / 1855. Believed to be unique.
See: Henry H. Clifford Sale.
[03/1982] https://archive.org/details/henryhcliffordco1982bowe/page/n31/
BLAKE & AGNELL – Ingot $20.15
This company had its smelting and assaying plant at 52 J Street in Sacramento.
BLAKE & COMPANY – Pattern in Gold $20,00 1855 Formerly Blake & Agnell. A unique item acquired by Stack’s from a Mr. F. Korff of Mesa, Arizona.
Now at the Smithsonian Museum.
See: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_911788
Above is the ingot with uncut strip of 3 bars donated to the Smithsonian that was formerly owned by Mrs. Norweb who was sold a bill of goods.
See: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_2028628
1855 Blake & Agnell $25.00 Gold Bar
Image courtesy of Dr. Kagin book as referenced in the Karl Moulton book on the Franklin hoard. They also mention “Agrell” interchangeably in parentheses as an alternate form of Agnell. There is too much debate and discussion around this topic to go into detail on this page.