146 YEAR OLD Native Sons of the Golden West, N.S.G.W "Certificate of Membership"
RARE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT!! Very rare find is this beautiful ORIGINAL certificate of membership for the fraternal organization of Native Californians, "Native Sons of the Golden West" or N.S.G.W. and its over 146 years old. The artwork is crisp and the colors bright. The orginization was founded in 1875 in order to promote and preserve California history and membership was only open to Native Californians.
This is an ORIGINAL lithograph produced by the O.E. Olsen Lithograph Co. of San Francisco, Circa 1877 and is NOT a reproduction. The artwork is fantastic and portrays several notable historical sites of California such as Yosemite, the Redwood National Forest, (note that it is a horse driven wagon going through the base of the tree and NOT a car) the great gold rush, San Francisco Bay before the Golden Gate Bridge, CA Poppies and Missions and much much more.
This is an extremely rare find as there are only a handfull of these known to exist and all other examples are currently housed in museums, and there are none available for purchase. This information comes directly from the N.S.G.W. which still exists to this day. Measures: 21" Wide x 28" Long
The above 3 paragraphs were taken from a recent Ebay listing for the same certificate. That certificate which sold was not in as good as condition as what I am offering here.
22 years ago I bought a house in the Palm Springs area, it was built in1925. One day as I was crawling around in the attic I came upon a very large dusty role of what seemed to be posters of some sort. I looked at them and thought these are pretty cool, and I put them in my storage room where they have been ever since.
This listing is for ONE CERTIFICATE, the first picture in my listing.
The 2nd picture is of one of the certificates that was also rolled up with the others; it is not for sale at this time. I uploaded it here so as to give a date reference as it clearly shows the hand written date "1877" and being from Parlor Number One in San Francisco, so I must assume that they are all of the same time period.
The condition is excellent for being 146 years old. (CAN YOU IMAGINE). The color is as original with little to no fading, as they were rolled up for over 100 years. The edges are a bit frayed as one can see in the pictures, but once matted you will not see this. There are a couple very small tears that I repaired with acid free tape and a few other small blemishes that one cannot really see.
This will look magnificent matted, framed and hanging in your home. Without a doubt it will be a great conversation piece. A small price to pay for such an amazing historical document.
Please ask any questions.