Lot 84
Taylor, Zachary. A rare and significant document with very slight yellowing throughout. President Taylor's signature is impressive, also signed by John Clayton as Secretary of State. Large embossed paper seal at lower left. A handsome appointment, attractively matted, with a 5" x 7" engraving of Taylor and a 3" diameter bronze Presidential medallion, and framed to an overall size of 35" x 26". 12th President of the United States, 1849-1850.
Partly Printed Document Signed as President. Oblong Folio, on vellum, Washington DC, May 28, 1850. President Zachary Taylor appoints a consul to San Francisco.
Being an appointment for " …Patrice Dillon…Consul of France for San Francisco, In California…" Dated six weeks prior to Taylor's death, and a full three months before California entered the Union as the 31st state (September 9, 1850). President Taylor had good reason to appoint a government official to the territory of California, which was, at the time, undergoing an intense bout of gold fever. On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall, a New Jersey mechanic building a sawmill for Johann Sutter on the American River east of San Francisco, discovered gold and started the great California Gold Rush, bringing settlers to the state in huge numbers. It is estimated that over one hundred thousand fortune seekers raced to the California Territory that year alone. By 1850, Taylor had taken steps toward making the Territory a State, by this time the amount of gold having been extracted from the Sierra Nevadas and surrounding mountains totalled some $200 million. Ironically, it would be Taylor's death in office that finally allowed passage of the Compromise of 1850, which, among other things, admitted California into the Union as a free state.
Estimated Value $4,000 - 6,000.
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| Realized $3,680 |
