Goodyear Walker, from the California State Lands Commission, sent an interesting tale in response to the recent Gold Double Eagle auction. The cargo of the ship “Brother Jonathan”, which sank in 1865 off the northern California coast, included a large number of gold coins, some of them uncirculated Double Eagles. In a case that was taken to the Supreme Court, the salvage company that found the wreck fought with California over the rights to it and its cargo. The settlement resulted in a split of the “treasure” with 20% going to the state. The state also agreed not to sell the coins for 15 years. Other items recovered from wreck have been catalogued, such as the contents of a crate which was opened in 2001. The gold coins sit in a safe deposit box under the control of the CSLC. I end this tale with a quote from Mr. Walker’s email: “I have this vision that after I retire the coins will remain in the safe deposit box, like the Ark in Indiana Jones, lost to bureaucracy forever…..”