Backstory: Star Mining Co., Hidden or lost: 1880s, Found July 1968, Treasure: 52 or more gold bars
Through auction appearances we’ve been able to locate 27 distinct Star Mining Co. ingots. Of those, only 5-6 have surfaced in the past 20 years. In addition, 12 more ingots have been listed by weight and serial number in the book which we have not traced to any auction: “American Coin Treasures and Hoards and caches of other American numismatic items” by David Bowers published 1997.
John J. Ford, Jr., recalled that 52 or more ingots relating to the Star Mining Company were found with the aid of a metal detector. As Ford did not obtain the bars directly, the account concerning their location is sketchy at best. The F.G. Hoard and Star ingots are said to have turned up in July 1966 and were handled by Paul Franklin, who before leaving on an extended trip to Europe sold them to a dealer in old guns, who then sold them to Ford, the latter being the prime market for them. Ford aquired them over a two-year period 1969-1970. Sizes and shapes ranged from small, square ingots to a mammoth ingot weighing over 20 ounces with many variations as to fineness and imprint styles.
Meanwhile the gun dealer consigned some to Glendining & Co., the London auction house. Ford was the succesful bidder on some of these and brought them back to the US with special numismatic permits.
7.27 oz 1880-Dated Star Mining Company Mixed Alloy Ingot, No 042
Serial number 042. 678 fine gold; 288 fine silver. 7.27 ounces. This mixed alloy gold and silver ingot from the Rose Creek, California firm is virtually as nice as the day it was made with bright yellow gold surfaces and excellent luster. Like a few other ingots from this firm, the name of the mining company is signified by a five-point star above the letters MINING Co. All of the identification markings are on the top or face of this ingot with the edges and bottom all unmarked. Little is known of the history of this firm, except that it was in operation from 1870 until 1895 in Sonora County.
[07/2003] https://archive.org/details/classicssale2003amer_201705/page/n233/
3.90 oz Cal. 1880 Star Mining Co. Gold Ingot, No 67
3.90 ounces, 998 fine, No. 67. A western directory from 1880 lists three different Star Mining companies, so we do not know exactly which company issued this particular ingot. This ingot was originally discovered by a treasure seeker with a metal detector and shipped to London in November of 1969 to be sold by Glendining. The Treasury Department deemed this ingot to be of significant numismatic value to have special import licenses made for it. The ingot is a rich, deep, yellow-gold color.
Ex: Auction ’79 (Rarcoa, 10/79), lot 1483, where it realized $3,000.
[06/2002] https://coins.ha.com/itm/miscellaneous/cal-1880-star-mining-co-gold-ingot-390-ounces-998-fine-no-67-a-western-directory-from-1880-lists-three-different-sta/a/292-7666.s ($4,887)
[07/1979] https://archive.org/details/auction79uniteds1979stac/page/350/
3.75 oz 1880 Star Mining Company Gold Ingot, No 236
Serial number 236. 994 fine. 3.75 ounces. This gold ingot from the Rose Creek, California firm is virtually as nice as the day it was made with bright yellow gold surfaces and excellent luster. Like a few other gold ingots from this firm, the name of the mining company is signified by a five-point star above the letters MINING Co. All of the identification markings are on the top or face of this ingot with the edges and bottom all unmarked. Little is known of the history of this firm, except that it was in operation from 1870 until 1895 in Sonora County.
3.60 oz 1880 Star Mining Company Gold Transport Ingot, No 68
1880 Star Mining Company Gold Transport Ingot.
A small (26 mm x 33 mm) gold ingot. The top is imprinted: 3.60 OZS / No. 68 / (the <S imprint is between No. and 68) / MINING / Co / 998 FINE. The back reads: CAL 1880. Known as a conversion or transport ingot, miners deposited their gold for conversion into ingots for easier transport. Star Mining Co. was located in Sonora, California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is one of about 24 ingots discovered. These were sold in a 1969 Glendining Sale in London. This is the purest of the known ingots.
[02/1983] https://archive.org/details/robisoncollectio1982stac/page/159/
[08/2005] https://www.icollector.com/1880-Star-Mining-Company-Gold-Transport-Ingot-A_i5226907 ($6,600)
8.08 oz 1880 Star Mining Co. Gold Ingot, No 054
Several Star Mining Company and Hoard ingots first appeared in Glendining’s November 1969 auction. They were previously unknown to the numismatic community. According to Fred Holabird in his Fixed Price List from Fall 2006, “These ingots might better be termed art ingots because of the fanciful array of differing punch patterns, completely atypical of normal mine ingots.”<BR> This ingot surfaced in that Glendining auction and is photographed on page 15 of the plates in the back of the catalog. A trapezoidal bar, only the top side has imprinting. It reads: 8.08 OZS No 054 / CAL MINING 1880 / Co / 948 FINE. Much of CAL. MINING is weakly impressed. This is most likely because the imprints appear to be on the back side of the ingot where sinking occurred when the metal cooled. Bright yellow-gold color. The ingot measures 48 mm x 27 mm x 10 mm.
Ex: Glendining & Co. (November 13-14, 1969), lot 590.
[01/2008] https://www.icollector.com/1880-Star-Mining-Co-Gold-Ingot_i7633490
[02/1887] https://archive.org/details/lwhoffeckercolle1987supe/page/338/mode/2up?q=ingot
2.94 oz 1880 Star Mining Co. Gold Ingot, No 058
GOLD BAR 91.5 GRAMS DATED 1880 MARKED CALIFORNIA.
This ingot carries the distinction of being the smallest of all known Star Mining Company bars, even those that were originally reported and sold in 1969.
Nice early gold bar. Marked “2.94 OZs No. 58 MINING CO.”. Great example of early California gold bar.
Condition: Excellent
[05/2024]
2.96 oz 1880 Star Mining Co Gold Ingot, No 238
This small Star Mining Co ingot surfaced in recent history and is the second smallest known with a nice horizontal layout.
Condition: Excellent
Star Mine/ 18 (pic star) 80/ 5 DOL// (in square diamond) Troy/ 175 G/24C.
Actual weight: 11.6 grams (0.37 troy ozs). 0.9″ diameter.
This gold coin has not been seen by us before. It has a clear reference to the Star Mine of 1880, in the same manner as the gold “Star” ingots which have been subject of some of my papers over the years, and well discussed by myself in detail.
In short, the Star ingots are not made in the standard manner of the period. Further, their appearance first came from a Glendenning sale (London), which I strongly believe was a method used by a well known coin/ingot collector/dealer to get questionable ingots out into the numismatic community – sell them into the foreign numismatic community, and let them filter back into the US as if they were real. At the time, it was illegal to possess them in the US unless they could be shown to be a true gold item of numismatic value. The information published in the Glendenning catalog was completely fictitious. The manner of the wording also rendered the opinion that the writer was known to all. The published map of the surveyed claims of the district that the writer had claimed the Star mine existed showed no such mine, nor did records within the mining industry. I rendered the opinion that the ingots are and were unquestionably fake, along with their counterparts that showed up at the same time in the same place, the Hoard ingots.
The appearance of this gold coin cements my opinion. This is a nice, neatly made piece for which the weights do not match, nor does the value. Other discussion is fruitless. My guess is that whoever made this coin may have only made one, since we haven’t seen another. It is a fantasy made of gold, just like the Star gold ingots.
[07/2019] https://www.icollector.com/Star-Mine-Gold-Coin-108012_i33667946 ($1,500)
At Glendining’s auction November 1969 a hoard of Star Mining Co ingots first appeared at auction.
Virtually NONE of these ingots have surfaced since the auction in 1969 and it is entirely possible they have been melted since.
[11/1969] https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=512958&AuctionId=534207
Star Mining Ingot census
The following is a full account of all the ingots we’ve ever seen referenced in auctions or private appearances. Items seen within the past 20 years have been listed in BOLD:
- No. 042 – 7.27 oz California 1880 (Heritage, 2005; NASCA April 1980 Lot 2434; American Numismatic Rarities 07/2003; NASCA 04/30/1980)
- No. 043 – 6.42 oz
- No. 044 – 6.30 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969)
- No. 045 – 6.51 oz California 1880 (Stacks 07/26/1979 Lot 1482)
- No. 048 – 7.34 oz
- No. 049 – 7.01 oz California 1880 (NASCA 04-30-1980)
- No. 050 – 8.21 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969; Superior Stamp & Coin Co 05/31/1987)
- No. 054 – 8.08 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969; iCollector 2008)
- No. 058 – 2.94 oz California 1880 (05/ 2024)
- No. 59 – 3.73 oz
- No. 60 – 2.98 oz
- No. 61 – 3.20 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969; Superior Stamp & Coin Co 05/31/1987)
- No. 62 – 3.48 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969; Goldberg 06/2000; eBay 2019)
- No. 63 – 3.03 oz California 1800 (ANA Museum – No auctions to speak of)
- No. 64 – 4.25 oz California 1880 (Superior Stamp & Coin Co 08/19/1975)
- No. 66 – 3.78 oz
- No. 67 – 3.90 oz California 1880 (Heritage, 2002; Stacks 07/26/1979 Lot 1483)
- No. 68 – 3.60 oz California 1880 (Stacks, 02/02/1983; Stacks 03/12/1997)
- No. 69 – 3.76 oz California 1880 (NASCA 04/30/1980; eBay 2019)
- No. 70 – 3.66 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969; Superior Stamp & Coin Co 05/31/1987)
- No. 78 – 13.06 oz California 1877 (Glendining & Co, 1969)
- No. 232 – 5.28 oz
- No. 233 – 4.55 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969)
- No. 234 – 3.23 oz
- No. 235 – 4.15 oz California 1880 (NASCA 04/30/1980)
- No. 236 – 3.75 oz California 1880 (Heritage, 2005; Stacks 2003; Numismatic & Antiquarian 12/1980; Numismatic & Antiquarian 12/1978)
- No. 237 – 4.35 oz
- No. 238 – 2.96 oz California 1880 (Private)
- No. 376 – 10.97 oz
- No. 377 – 8.82 oz California 1800 (NASCA 04/30/1980)
- No. 378 – 9.16 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969)
- No. 380 – 6.11 oz
- No. 429 – 4.55 oz California 1880 (iCollector 07/2005; NASCA 04/30/1980)
- No. 521 – 5.43 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969; Goldberg 06/2000 ; Clifford 03/1982; eBay 2019)
- No. 522 – 5.36 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969)
- No. 523 – 5.48 oz
- No. 524 – 4.58 oz California 1880 (Glendining & Co, 1969)
- No. 525 – 4.53 oz – Bank of California Exhibit 2008
- No. 526 – 4.41 oz California 1880 (Superior Stamp & Coin Co., Inc., 01/28/1985)