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4 page lettersheet from the San Francisco office of Ludlow BeeBee & Co. in Philadelphia addressed to the company office in Philadelphia with a manifest of a large shipment by steamer, of gold dust packed in leather bags and boxes containing approximately 30 different consignments of gold to both Philadelphia and Baltimore locations. The text also makes reference to a previous shipment made by steamer of a box containing 156 oz. of gold dust valued at $2500 and some English silver. The total shipment is valued at some $20,000, and is interesting that it documents such a large shipment of gold dust, and identifies the names of the receiving firms in Philadelphia and Baltimore as well as the San Francisco consignors. Also references payables to the St. Louis banking house of L.A. Benoist & Co. The date of the letter is October and the year is somewhat obscured by a small dampstain on the upper right hand corner. However, the letter is in the exact same hand and format as a similar one from the same San Francisco firm, offered in a 2008 Holabird-Kagin catalog, which is dated November 1850. Following the text concerning shipping gold dust the San Francisco writer  continues  “ We have been doing a first rate business the last 15 days, I hope to continue. Will ship you again on the 15 Nov. Look out for bars of gold as there has been a large quantity made for the purpose of swindling the people having a large quantity of alloy and only worth from $8 to $14 per oz. I am well although not very fat. I send on my daguerreotype. It is rather paler than I am & fuller in the face but still it looks something like me.”  A postscript at the letter’s end states the recipient being overcharged by $100  and instructs the sender how to deal with the transaction.

A great look at the business of transacting and marketing a large amount of gold dust not normally encountered. The personal touch at the end adds further interest, as does the reference to fake gold bars. Provenance: Calvin Otto collection