Albert Kuner
| Georg Albrecht (Albert) Ferdinand Küner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
October 9, 1819 Lindau, Germany |
| Died |
January 23, 1906 (aged 86) San Francisco, CA, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery San Francisco, CA, U.S. |
| Occupation | Engraver |
Georg Albrecht (Albert) Ferdinand Küner (October 9, 1819, Lindau, Germany – January 23, 1906, San Francisco, California)[1] was the engraver of California's State Seal, which was designed by Robert S. Garnett. The seal was adopted October 2, 1849 by the California Constitutional Convention.
Personal background
Albert Küner was the son of Johann Ludwig Küner (1785–1849) and Regina Magdalena Bodler (1785–1858). Albert and three Lindau friends left Europe on September 3, 1848 and arrived at New York City on October 28, 1848 aboard the sailing ship, Swyzerland. According to family history, he quickly secured employment as an engraver with the Tiffany company. But he and his three friends did not tarry long once the news of "gold" in California was voiced about the city. On January 1, 1849, Küner, his three Lindau friends and their collectively owned dog, "Attila," engaged passage for San Francisco aboard the sailing ship, Sutton.
After many harrowing adventures, the remaining 54 passengers aboard the ship arrived safely into the bay of San Francisco on July 22, 1849. Two passengers were lost at sea during the passage.
In May 1854 he departed San Francisco for New York via Panama. While there he secured an American passport and proceeded to Le Havre, France. The purpose of the lengthy trip was not only to visit his mother and relatives, but also to convince Miss Judith Rhineck of Lindau to marry him. He was successful and on July 14, 1854 the couple were married and in late 1854 journeyed to California via the "Nicaragua overland route."
The couple had 5 children: Anna, Bertha, Rudolph, Ida, and Martha. All born in San Francisco and all survived to majority.
Albert and Judith Küner remained residents of San Francisco until their deaths. He died on January 23, 1906, only three months before the devastating earthquake which he clearly and emphatically had predicted in one of his 1850 letters written to his mother in Lindau, Bavaria. His death allowed him to escape having to view the destruction of his beloved city. His wife survived him by only four years.
Work
- 1850: The Horseman also known as the Vaquero is a rare gold coin engraved by Albert Küner for the Baldwin & Co. of San Francisco in 1850. The signature of Albert Küner "A KUNER" can be found on the left of the ground base. The Vaquero coin can be found on display at the "Stories on Money" exhibition at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. USA.
- 1871: German Peace Celebration medal for the observation of the peace festival in San Francisco.
Notes
References
- The Society of California Pioneers ..., 1900-1904 Handbook, Pauline Wolstencroft (September)
- San Francisco 'Gold Rush' Letters to Lindau, Bavaria (2007) Translation & redaction by Andreas Schmitt-Egenolf & Laurier B. McDonald
Further reading
- Edgar Holmes Adams: Private Gold Coinage of California, 1849–1855, New York, 1912.
- James L. Betton (ed.): Money Talks: a numismatic anthology selected from "Calcoin News", Irvine, California, 1970.
- Stephan Kienberger, A Brief Overview of Germans in California and San Francisco and their Contributions to Society and the Lutheran Church.
- Memorial Record for Albert Kuner, Vol. 11 – Alice Phelan Sullivan Library, Society of California Pioneers, San Francisco.