ARGENTI & COMPANY

Felix Argenti and T. Allen organized a banking house under the title of Argenti & Company in 1849.  They were first located on Clay Street, facing the Plaza, but subsequently removed to 133 Montgomery Street.

Early in 1850, this firm attempted to put printed bank notes into circulation of California, but the people would not accept them.  The next year they employed Schultz & Co. (above) to assay and stamp ingots for them in much the same manner as Adams & Co. employed Wass, Molitor & Co.

In 1854, Argenti & Company announced that they would no longer accept deposits, but that they would continue to sell exchange on banks in France and England.  The company eventually went bankrupt and closed its doors on May 3, 1856.

--Reprinted with permission of the author from Donald H. Kagin's, "Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States", copyright 1981, Arco Publishing, Inc. of New York