Condition Report
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Lot 212
Sale 6425 - American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography, including The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography
Part I - Lots 1-222
Oct 23, 2025
10:00AM ET
Part II - Lots 223-376
Oct 24, 2025
10:00AM ET
Live / Cincinnati
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Estimate
$1,000 -
2,000
Price Realized
$3,600
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
[GOLD RUSH]. The Way They Go to California. New York: N. Currier, 1849.
17 1/4 x 11 in. lithograph (sight), framed to approx. 31 1/2 x 25 1/2 in. Title and copyright printed beneath image. A vibrantly colored illustration featuring various vessels providing passage to California, including sailing ships, a parachute, an airship, and a rocket. Text representing speech coming from the sundry passengers pokes fun at their various methods of transport, while speech coming from the eager men on shore highlights their desire to get aboard.
Currier produced numerous prints satirizing the mad rush for the gold fields of California. In this print and its counterpart, The Way They Came From California (see Lot 213), special emphasis is placed upon the apparently equivalent desperation of men eager to get to California and (once they've acquired some gold) to get back from California. All were originally issued as black and white depictions; this lithograph and others from the same series in this auction, have later applied coloring.
The Emily T. and Adolphus Andrews Collection of Native American Art

