THE 1852 ADELAIDE INGOTS

Ingots As Relics of the World's Gold Booms
History shows that the early days of any gold rush are marked by chaos, opportunity and a quick evolution of infrastructure. Vast quantities of gold can be mined and refined into a convertible form well before any mint is established.

The two largest gold rushes before those in Australia in the 1850s were in Brazil (spanning from the 1690s right throughout the 18th century) and California from 1849. Ingots from these gold rushes are highly prized by historians, economists and collectors for their tangible links to two of the most influential events in world economic history.

Such is the appeal of gold ingots as relics and collectables that a museum was conceived to display the largest collection of gold ingots in the world.

Degussa Goldhandel GmbH is a well-known gold bar, bullion coin and numismatic trading company in Germany - they are the current Custodian of what is known as The Industry Collection of gold ingots. This collection was formed by N.M. Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited. The main area of focus of the collection is on gold ingots issued since 1971, it also holds a small number of historical 400oz good delivery bars issued before 1971. It includes 1,084 gold bars from 35 different countries.

   

The 1852 Adelaide Ingots are counted among Australia's most historic numismatic items - they were the very first items produced by the Adelaide Assay Office following the discovery of gold at Mount Alexander (in Victoria) in November 1851. These enigmatic slabs of gold are incredibly rare - just 2 have been sighted in private hands anywhere in the world in the past century.

According to a noted authority on the Adelaide Assay Office, James Hunt-Deacon, The introduction of the Bullion Act and the subsequent coinage … was a masterly stroke of the legislature, and played no small part in averting economic catastrophe and laying the foundation for a stabilised currency.

A taxonomy of the Adelaide Assay Office Ingots has been carried out 3 times previously - by Dr Arthur Andrews in 1921 Australasian Tokens and Coins dated 1921; by James Hun-Deacon in 1965 in The Ingots and Assay Office Pieces of South Australia and by Dion Skinner as editor of the 8th edition of Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values, published in 1974.

To read the complete article, see:
The 1852 Adelaide Ingots - Innovation That Averted Economic Catastrophe (https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/blog/news-research/australian-gold-coinage/the-1852-adelaide-ingots-innovation-that-averted-e/)

For more information on the Industry Collection of Gold Bars Worldwide, see:
https://goldbarsworldwide.com/
THE INDUSTRY COLLECTION OF GOLD BARS WORLDWIDE (https://www.goldbarsworldwide.com/PDF/OR_3_industrycollection.pdf)

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