By: Ethan&Connie Cao

On December 3, 2022, there was an auction for items from the California Gold Rush which sold for about 1M$ in total. The ship preserved very rare items from the ship wreckage from S.S. Central America.

When traveling from Panama to New York City, the ship was caught in a huge hurricane on September 9, 1857. The hurricane destroyed the ship’s engine which cause a leak that led to the ship’s demise. Only 153 of the 578 passengers and crew members onboard survived.

The ship was hidden below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean until 1988 when Tommy Thompson and his men recovered the ship and sold the items. The items included an 1849 Colt pocket pistol and an illustrated 1849 edition of The Count of Monte Cristo. The items sold for $30,000 and $3,720, respectively. The auction happened now because they wanted to see how much each item was worth.

The lid to the oldest-known Wells Fargo treasure shipment box sold for $99,600, while the keys belonging to the ship’s purser fetched an impressive $103,200. Surprisingly, one of the most paid items was a pair of miners’ work pants. Believed to be the oldest of its kind, they fetched an astounding $114,000. This is the highest amount ever paid for a pair of jeans.