Gold ingots/bars are captivating numismatic items. The old ones are not only intrinsically valuable they also have interesting histories. Who doesn’t know about the S.S. Central America? The legendary “Ship of Gold” with its cargo of hundreds of gold ingots was one of the greatest shipwreck recoveries in history. The ingots are wildly popular among collectors. And why not? The story that these ingots tell has everything …fame, fortune, romance, tragedy, and death. The same could be said of the gold bars recovered from the Atocha, the Maravillas, and the 1715 Fleet. All Spanish shipwrecks with stories to tell.
Not all gold bars are from shipwrecks. There are many treasure stories of lost Spanish mines hidden away in some long-lost corner of the American West. But what about the rest of the world? Here is the story of a rare Russian gold ingot that also has a fascinating story to tell.
Our featured item from 1919 is a 44oz ingot/bar bearing imperial hallmarks. The item weighs a hefty 3lbs .31oz. and is 21.7 karat purity (90.5%). It is clearly from Russia and was created at a time of great upheaval.
It is surmised that this ingot is from the Imperial Russian gold reserve that was captured by the White Army during the Russian Civil War in 1918. The 1919 date is enigmatic but could be the result of being retested and redated after the capture of the gold reserve at Kazan. There is no direct evidence to prove this, but circumstantial evidence does support this hypothesis.
I had the opportunity to view this item firsthand at the World’s Fair of Money in Chicago two weeks ago. The bar/ ingot has a magical attraction. Butter yellow and crude, but therein lies its beauty.
This item was part of the GreatCollections Auction on Sunday, August 18 (Lot # 1598572). It was sold for $104,062.51.
For more detailed information about the item see GreatCollections here.
Many thanks to GreatCollections for permitting me to share the images of the wonderful bar/ingot along with the text that was part of the auction description.
