The "Ship of Gold" exhibit of gold bars and coins from the SS Central America visited the National Rifle Association's convention this week in Dallas. Here's an excerpt
from a May 4, 2018 article in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. -Editor
This nearly forgotten piece of American history — the bounty from an 1857 ship wreck that caused a nationwide economic panic — was a hidden treasure of sorts last week at the NRA annual meeting in Dallas.
"Money is history in your hands," said Mike Fuljenz, a Beaumont resident and president of Universal Coin who brought the Ship of Gold exhibit to the National Rifle Association's biggest annual event.
"When I look at these bars and coins, I wonder, who handled these? It's years and years of history," he said.
More than 80,000 people attended the annual NRA meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. As expected, much of the ballyhoo in the enormous exhibit hall was about assault rifles, revolvers and baseball caps
featuring the emblems of numerous gun, knife and sporting goods manufacturers.
But tucked in the back of the exhibit hall was the Ship of Gold exhibit, where visitors gladly posed for photos with the bars, coins and gold dust on display behind glass.
Bob Evans (left) and Mike Fuljenz (right)
Bob Evans, chief scientist aboard one of the missions to retrieve the gold, also was at the NRA meeting in Dallas. He said that even when searchers believed they had located the ship through mathematics, it took weeks to
confirm it.
Evans said he knew in his heart that the bounty had been found when a robot sent 7,000 feet under the sea returned to the surface with evidence on its metal parts.. "We found gold dust sediment lodged in the runners
of the robot," he said.
To read the complete article, see:
Gold bars and coins worth millions from a ship wreck found at NRA meeting in Dallas
(http://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article210358874.html)
Wayne Homren, Editor
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