Albert Kuner

Georg Albrecht (Albert) Ferdinand Küner
Born (1819-10-09)October 9, 1819
Lindau, Germany
Died January 23, 1906(1906-01-23) (aged 86)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Resting place Mount Olivet Cemetery San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation Engraver

Georg Albrecht (Albert) Ferdinand Küner (October 9, 1819 – January 23, 1906)[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.

Medal by Küner, Franco-Prussian War, German San Francisco Peace Festival March 22, 1871. Sitting Germania between 6 flags holding sword down. Around: "· ZUR ERINNERUNG A. D. DEUTSCHE FRIEDENSFEIER · IN SAN FRANCISCO ·"/ The new German flag, and crossed sword between oak, and laurel branches, curved below: "D. 22. MAERZ". Around: "EINIGKEIT MACHT STARK. DURCH KAMPF ZUM SIEG. 1871"

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

  1. ↑ Early Days in California: The Growth of the Commonwealth Under American Rule, With Biographical Sketches of Pioneers by G.W. Sullivan (1888), p. 223

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

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