Bowers, Q. David. A California Gold Rush History, 2002. Deluxe Leatherbound Edition. # 184 of 400 Produced. As New.，Folio, 14 inches x 11 inches x 2 2/3 inches. Bound in full leather with pictorial boards decorated in gilt. The <em>S.S. Central America</em> is depicted at center of front board, fancy gilt flourishes at corners incorporate a crossed pick and shovel, spine decorated in gilt with depictions of the ship, the obverse of an 1857-S double eagle, assayers scales, and a crossed pick and shovel. Numbered in gilt at interior base of rear board, endpapers depict a mining scene, front endpapers include a pinch of "authentic gold dust from the <em>S.S. Central America</em>" protected behind plastic in the miners pan of the illustrated scene -- a nice touch, inspired by the 1849 second edition of the 1842 <em>A Manual of Gold and Silver Coins of All Nations</em> and the 1850 <em>New Varieties of Gold and Silver Coins</em> by Jacob R. Eckfeldt and William E. DuBois of the Philadelphia Mint, works which included a specimen of California gold dust behind a mica window. This edition was never sold publicly but was only available with the purchase of an ingot from the wreck -- an expensive proposition and one that leaves the vast majority of copies in the hands of the original owners who retain their ingots. This edition cost nearly $1,000 per copy to produce and it is not included as a variant in the excellent and expansive <em>Bibliography of Sunken Treasure</em> books by David S. Crooks. A rare opportunity to purchase one of the most impressive productions in the history of American numismatic literature.From our Philadelphia Americana Sale of September 2011, lot 872.
