TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 10.2

 

By December of 2017, the legal and business matters following the 2014 recoveries had been resolved, at least as far as my business was concerned. The treasure was moved to a lab that was prepared for me inside the Collectors Universe building, right around the corner and down the hall from the PCGS grading room. For the next year and a half, I spent half of my waking hours there.

With the "new" treasure to take to market, we dusted off the Ship of Gold display for another big appearance at the Long Beach Coin & Collectible Expo, in February of 2018.

 

I have described this exhibit in previous Treasure Talks, but the main display is a forty-foot-long modular depiction of the bow of the ship, with portholes in the side serving as display cases. A recessed alcove room gives a space for a walkaround feature display of treasure.

In the old days, 2000 – 2010, inside one of the portholes, we displayed the incredible partially intact treasure box, (see Treasure Talk Episode 5 Part 2) inside an aquarium, giving visitors a chance to see treasure up close, as found, in its original state.

 
The Treasure Box and its stacks of double eagles, on display in an aquarium

This artifact picked up a few nicknames over the years; the "fishbowl" was a favorite, although not very respectful of its fabulousness.

But now it was 2018, and the box and its coins were not a part of the "new" treasure, the gold we recovered in 2014. The more recently recovered treasure was the subject of the 2018 promotions. What could we use as a substitute?

In the lab, I had quite a few degraded bags of gold dust and nuggets, still sitting in water inside Ziploc bags, just as we had packaged it years earlier on the ship. At this point in February, just a month after I had commenced work in the lab, we had processed only a small portion of the gold dust at hand, just a little bit for some opening event promotions.

Then, something clicked, and I had an inspiration. I decided to use gold dust as aquarium gravel.

Because I could!

Who in the world ever gets to do that?! No one!

Such an extravagance is beyond the reach of tycoons and sultans, not from lack of money as much as lack of opportunity. Sitting in my converted-storeroom lab in southern California I had the resources to construct a display like no other ever seen!

As I thought seriously about it, it wouldn't be easy. It was bound to be messy, and time-consuming, taking perhaps hours; not something that could be repeated easily. It wasn't like I could stage a rehearsal. I would have to construct the display in place, in one shot. I estimated the volume of loose gold and nuggets on hand… Yes, that should make an inch or two of "gravel" in the bottom of my PetSmart 5-gallon aquarium.

 

I think it was the Saturday of the show, so the crowd was not as pressing as opening day, and kids were around. I was enjoying sharing stories with exhibit visitors, when I noticed a shortish man with a ponytail and a beard standing with two children in front of our native gold display. (Note: shortish men are still a little taller than my 5'4".) He seemed transfixed, with his nose pressed close to the window, and he was saying something to the girls as he pointed at the yellow rocks.

I walked up, more than happy to talk to someone looking so intently at the dust and nuggets.

I chimed in cheerily, "Yeah. It's the gold dust we recovered from the shipwreck."

He turned to me, smiling, and rather emphatically proclaiming, "Yeah, and it's gold dust from the districts that they were mining in 1857!"

And so, I met Erik Melchiorre, Professor of Stable Isotope Geochemistry at California State University, San Bernardino.

All of a sudden, I had met another human who immediately recognized the significance of the pieces of native gold; not just their monetary value, but their scientific importance, the evidence and the opportunity they represented. And he had resources: a university science department, with equipment, and students.

Using the SSCA gold and story to inform and inspire education has been central to the project from the very beginning. The original company's Adjunct Science and Education Program gave specialty scientists and educators access to an exciting new world, a deep-ocean, wooden-hulled shipwreck with all its physical and biological wonders, in addition to all that gold. From the fruits of the early expeditions, 1988 – 1991, academic theses, dissertations, and peer-reviewed articles resulted from these collaborations. I was eager and alert for opportunities to continue this tradition.

Now, out of the blue, a university professor actively teaching about gold dust, "placer gold," was standing in front of my display. He was unique. I was surprised and delighted at this meeting. "Placer" gold is defined as gold that is found loose, already weathered out of its original matrix rock, and found as dust or nuggets in the soil or in the stream.

Only a few days later, at my invitation and arrangement, Professor Melchiorre and three students showed up at the front desk of Collectors Universe, introducing themselves as my intended guests.

 
Dr. Erik Melchiorre in the lab at PCGS

I gave them the "nickel tour" of the lab and its millions. Then we discussed what kind of science might be possible, and the research opportunity presented by this unique "sample" from the "field" and from the past.

 
The Black Crust sample and its host coin – real science from rust

To read the complete article, see:
Treasure Talk: Episode 10 – Part 2 More Adventures with Gold Dust (https://finestknown.com/treasure-talk-episode-10-part-2more-adventures-with-gold-dust/)

For the complete series, see:
Category Archives: Treasure Talk with Bob Evans (https://finestknown.com/treasure-talk-with-bob-evans/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n12a12.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 2.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n13a17.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 2.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n14a15.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 3.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n15a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 3.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n17a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 4.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n18a13.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 4.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n19a20.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 5.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n22a13.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 5.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n23a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 6.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n27a14.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 6.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n30a21.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 7.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n32a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 7.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n40a15.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 8 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n42a21.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 9 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n49a19.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 10.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n51a17.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web