Gold Rush-Era Jewel Box Recovered

A casual lunch and the quick thinking of a San Francisco antique dealer led to the recovery of a Gold Rush-era jewel box stolen from the Oakland Museum seven years ago.

The box, valued at more than $100,000, represents the “largest piece of California gold quartz ever made,” said Michael Weller, owner of Argentum Antiques in San Francisco and the man who led police to the box.

Made around 1875, the 7-by-9-inch box, known as the “Comstock Jewel Casket,” is lined with gold-laden quartz and depicts early California scenes, including railroad trains, Indians and buffalo herds.

Weller said Saturday that he was having lunch last week with a friend from Butterfield and Butterfield Auctioneers and Art Appraisers in San Francisco when the friend noticed a small gold quartz ring Weller was wearing and said his firm had just acquired a similar piece. From the description, Weller said he realized that his friend was talking about the stolen Comstock box and notified police.

Stolen in 1978

Brad Kearns and Sid Rice of the Oakland police retraced the box’s odyssey since it was stolen from the museum in March, 1978.

William E. Murray was arrested in 1980 for the museum burglary and admitted taking the items, but said the box had been stolen from a storage locker in San Leandro where he had stashed it.

The box ended up in the home of a Walnut Creek man, who police did not identify because they don’t think he knew it was stolen property. That man died last November.

During his illness, he gave the box to his brother and sister-in-law as a form of payment for their help. The woman brought the box to Butterfield and Butterfield in January, Kearns and Rice said, adding that they don’t think the firm knew of the box’s shady past either.

Thomas Frye, curator of the Oakland Museum, said he was “utterly delighted” that the box is back. “We can be thankful for the friends the museum has,” he said.