Lot 1954
Hentsh & Berton Check. Hentsch & Berton were the successors in 1863 to Henry Hentsch's banking and assay business in San Francisco. Hensch was born in Geneva about 1830 and arrived in California in 1849 after working in Grass Valley and Sonoma. He opened an assay office and bank in San Francisco about 1856, though he may have been active in banking there as early as 1854. Hensch is is perhaps best known to numismatists by the rare Hentsch gold nuggets found at the wreck site of the S.S. Central America which sank in 1857. Ephemera from Hensch is even more rare than the ingots. The most common collectables are Hentsch & Berton checks, though there are probably less than ten known, this being one of them.
Hentsch & Berton Bankers Check, San Francisco, California May 12,1869
Check payable to Moreshead Esq., for $47, signed by F. Berton. Printed by Bosky of San Francisco. There is an imprinted revenue stamp at center RNB 17. They are not listed in Castenholz's 'Field Guide to Revenue Stamped Paper, Part 1, Western States.' Condition- Extremely Fine. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection.
Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000.
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| Realized $1,150 |
