Bank of California and the Diamond Hoax

California's big money paid to dig for gems that had been pushed into anthills.

Collection: San Francisco: More Stories · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

California and Sansome Streets corner, 1872 · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

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How the story begins

Two men from Kentucky turned up in San Francisco late in 1870 with a leather bag and a small problem. It was too late in the day, they said, to deposit it at the Bank of California, which stood on this corner. Could a local financier, George Roberts, look after it instead? The bag held rough diamonds. Roberts swore to secrecy and then told William Ralston, the founder of the bank.

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