Gorham Blake was born on May 26, 1829 in Boston. After having served as Superintendent of Iron Mines in Vermont, he moved to Placerville, California in 1851, where he was employed by Adams & Co. Later Wells, Fargo & Co. hired him to buy gold dust. By 1853 he was part principal owner of the Dardanelles Mine of El Dorado County and principal owner and superintendent of the Shaws Flat Ditch mine.

The next year he moved to Sacramento, where he became an assayer and issued ingots stamped “G. Blake Assayer.” Since Sacramento was closer to the gold mines than San Francisco, several assayers set up businesses there. Later Blake partnered with John Agrell, who came from Sweden, to assay gold together from November 1855 to the end of December 1855.

The Sacramento Union of November 12th printed this notice: “Blake and Agrell, having established themselves in the business of Melting, Refining and Assaying Gold and ore of every description, are now prepared and well qualified to execute business entrusted in them, faithfully and on the most reasonable terms….We guarantee the correctness of our assays, and will pay all differences arising from the same with any of the United States Mints.” Because the U.S. Mint in San Francisco was closed periodically during this time, Blake and Agrell, like other assay companies, began to issue gold coin and ingots for ordinary commerce. This enterprise lasted for less than two months.

The pieces issued all have a misspelling on them. Agrell is changed to Agnell. Perhaps it was one of those errors that was just too difficult to correct and not worth the trouble because the partnership was dissolved before the end of December. The name Blake & Co. now replaced Blake & Agrell. The two partners in the new company were Blake and W.R. Waters. They issued 1855 twenty dollar gold pieces and patterns dated 1856 along with ingots. However, by the beginning of 1856, the San Francisco Mint had received the necessary parting acids and was back in production. Blake & Co. and other such small companies were no longer a necessity for local commerce.

One Blake & Co. ingot is almost square 43 X 52 X 13 millimeters. The top face says BLAKE & Co / ASSAYERS / SACRAMENTO / 892 FINE / VALUE / $353.11. The weight, 19.15 Oz. is stamped on the bottom.