The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 5, February 3, 2008, Article 15

SAN FRANCISCO ASSAY OFFICE DEPOSIT RECORDS

In response to last week's query from David Ginsburg, Fred
Holabird writes: "The US Assay Office records, like those
of the other assay offices, are held at the regional branches
of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
There is no written summary of the USAO business anywhere
that I know of. NARA did not retain all of the records. They
retained samples over the years, which do show how business
was conducted, generally. Other USAO records are found at
the main NARA in College Park, MD within the Treasury records.

"There will be a fairly lengthy section in my upcoming book
on precious metal ingots on the assay offices and their
records, particularly New York, the source of 95% of all
the gold USAO ingots known today. I have spent a considerable
amount of time researching this subject in detail and can
entertain questions, but it is a complicated system,
particularly around 1933 when FDR emplaced the New Deal
and the Gold Reserve Act.

"The San Francisco USAO had similar complications around
1964 when silver was formally demonetized. One of the USAO
SF bullion punches with the eagle vignette still exists
today, and two fake ingots have been seen by me of bright
silver plated lead. I recently found the punch, and it is
in "safe" hands, but is for sale at a price too rich for
my pocket."

 QUERY: SAN FRANCISCO ASSAY OFFICE DEPOSIT INFORMATION SOUGHT
 esylum_v11n04a12.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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