Q.David Bowers
Albert Kuner
Prominent among San Francisco die cutters was Albert Kuner, who produced the dies for several different companies. Born in Lindau, Bavaria, on October 9, 1819, George Ferdinand Albrecht Kuner, later known as Albert Kuner upon his arrival in America, learned to be a gold and silversmith. He came to the United States toward the end of 1848, intending to engage in cameo cutting, but learning of the California Gold Rush he went westward. Arriving in San Francisco in July 16, 1849, he secured employment with Moffat & Co., for whom he cut dies, including those for the first privately issued $10 piece in California. From that time until his death on January 23, 1906, at 86 years of age, he cut hundreds of other dies, including in addition to those made for coiners, the seal of California, medals made by the Mechanics' Institute, and other enterprises.
In October 1849 Kuner began his own business on Clay Street. He soon moved to Kearny Street between Jackson and Pacific. Following the destruction of his premises by fire in May 1850 he went back to Clay Street. Fire struck again in May 1851 and destroyed his premises, so he relocated in Dr. Mitthall's Building, on Montgomery Street. In 1852 he occupied a part of Braverman & Levy's store, remaining there 15 years. From that point he moved to several other locations.
Edgar H. Adams stated that Kuner was quite methodical and had a carefully prepared record of every item he engraved, including impressions in wax, various dies, and other items. Unfortunately, these and his papers were destroyed during the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 when his house at the corner of Golden Gate A venue and Gough Street burned. His annotated copy of Eckfeldt and Dubois' 1851 book illustrating California gold issues survived and was used by Adams in his research. Thus it is known that Kurier cut the dies for Norris, Gregg & Norris, the Moffat pieces of 1849-1850, the Shultz & Co. $5 pieces of 1851, the Dunbar & Co. $5 of the same year, the Baldwin $5, $10, and $20 pieces of 1850 & 1851, and the large $50 octagonal piece with the denomination reading FIFTY DOLLS. having Humbert's name on the border of the obverse.
Adams notes that the illustrations of the Miners' Bank $10, the Pacific Co. pieces, the Massachusetts & California Co. $5, the Templeton Reid pieces, the Cin cinnati Mining & Trading Co. coins, the Ormsby pieces, and the Dubosq productions were not marked and therefore apparently were not his work.
Kuner engraved the dies for all of the coins issued by Wass, Molitor & Co., a firm which achieved great prominence 1852-1855, particularly with its extensive coinage of the latter year. 1860 $5 pieces issued by the Mormons in Salt Lake City (but not the 1849-dated pieces) were Kuner's work as well.
Kuner charged as much as $500 per pair of dies during the early 1850s. To engrave the first date seal of California he was paid $600. In 1862 the government of British Columbia considered issuing gold coins. Kuner was commissioned to make dies for $10 and $20 issues.
J. S. Ormsby & Co.
J. S. Ormsby & Co. was prominent among the early issuers of private California gold coins. The firm was composed of Dr. J. S. Ormsby, who is believed to have come from Pennsylvania, and Maj. William M. Ormsby, who in 1860 was killed in a battle with the Indians at Winnemucca, Nevada. Ormsby County, Nevada, bears his name.
Seeking to be closer than San Francisco to the gold fields, the company opened its doors early in 1849 on K Street in Sacramento. Apparently an extensive assaying, smelting, refining, and coining business was conducted. Although specimens of the Ormsby coinage, made in the denominations of $5 and $10, were once plentiful, today they are great rarities. The pieces, which bear no date and have as part of the design the initials JSO, were struck by a sledgehammer rather than a coining press. The principal workman at the enterprise was Dr. William W. Light, a dentist who earlier came from Bethel, Claremont County, Ohio. Following an education in dentistry and medicine he departed on January 31, 1849, for California, reaching there in August. In the History of Sacramento County Winfield J. Davis noted that:
He found employment almost immediately with the Ormsbys, who had set up a mint and were coining gold. Not knowing how to do the annealing, however, they were making bad work of it, and were glad to employ the Dr. at $50 a day, to superintend the work, but he shortly after quit that situation and went mining.
According to an article in the New York Herald, May 11, 1849, the Ormsbys came to California as members of a party which was at the jumping-off spot at St. Joseph, Missouri, at that time. Listed were Dr. J. S. Ormsby and L. P. Ormsby; Maj. William Ormsby and J. K. Trumbull of Kentucky; and several others from Westmoreland, Pennsylvania. The group was provided with four wagons, six mules for each, and necessary provisions.
Adams quotes an article which appeared in the San Jose Pioneer, issue of May 5, 1877, written by a California pioneer. Included are some interesting data concerning Ormsby and related activities:
In the flush days of '49 gold was so plentiful in San Francisco, Sacramento, and other towns, that its value was not readily appreciated. There was plenty of gold, but no coin. This was the basis of one of the first speculations of the country.
In the general rush to California, consequent upon the discovery of gold at Sutter's sawmill, among other machinery brought here was a quantity for the purpose of coining the precious metals. Almost every company crossing the plains or rounding the Horn brought with them ample machinery for this purpose, and several well-known institutions of this kind did an extensive business in San Francisco.
The singularly-shaped block of granite found buried in the sand at the time of the excavation for the foundation of the California Market, some years since, which is still to be seen at the junction of Sumner Street with the market nearest Montgomery Street, and which excited so much speculation at the time of its discovery, was undoubtedly intended for this purpose, and portions of iron-work designed for similar use lay within a few years past scattered about various por-tions of Sacramento.
A private mint was established in Sacramento in 1849, and continued through the following year, by J. S. Ormsby & Co. The company consisted of Maj. Ormsby, who was killed by the Indians in the Winnemucca War, famous in the early annals of the State of Nevada, and his brother, Dr. Ormsby, who some years after represented the County of Sonoma in the California Assembly.
This establishment, which was located on K Street, just below the site of the Golden Eagle, did an extensive business, the miners bringing dust to be coined forming a line and awaiting their regular turn. The gold was melted here, and without alloy, as it came from the mine, cast into bars, rolled into strips, the rollers used for this purpose being still in the possession of Dr. Light, a leading dental surgeon of Sacramento, who was the chief operator of the establishment at a salary of $50 per diem.
Coins of the denominations of $5 and $10 were issued, stamped with the name of the proprietors, who received a royalty of $4 on every $20 coined. It is the opinion of the gentleman named as the chief operator of the concern, who was the melter and aided by an assistant rolled out the bullion and struck the dies with a sledge hammer, that the crucibles used in melting the dust, and which have long been buried by the filling of the street, contain a large amount of gold, so wasteful was the operation and so plentiful the precious metals, in those days which constituted the flush time in California.