(CALIFORNIA LETTERS) Potts Gold Rush letter from a freshly

Sale 2310 - Lot 76

Price Realized: $ 375

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(CALIFORNIA--LETTERS.) Potts, ___. Gold Rush letter from a freshly arrived miner about to seek his fortune. Autograph Letter Signed, "Potts" to his wife Sally. 8 pages, 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, on 2 sheets; moderate wear, slight separations at intersections of folds with loss of a few letters. San Francisco, 11 April 1850

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

A wildly optimistic letter from a prospective miner who has just landed at San Francisco. "California is a golden land. I have no doubt that the whole peninsula from Oregon to Cape St. Lucas is one imense gold mine. . . . I have not the least doubt that within 3 months I shall be able to send you at least $500." He also offers a long account of San Francisco's gambling halls: "Each room (& they are very large ones) containing from 15 to 20 tables, crowded day & night, groaning under their loads of gold & silver coin and large lumps of pure gold, all staked on the turning over of one single card." The author has not been identified beyond his surname, but we hope he made his fortune.