The Mystery Of The Gold Coin Murals

On Sunday, October 9, 2011 one of the guest speakers at the Mariposa Museum and History Center's Annual membership meeting and potluck was Marsha Crawford, known as 'Yeshe'. Marsha who is an artist, restorer and preservationist is the artist who was commissioned to restore the painted murals inside the Gold Coin in Mariposa, California. These murals date from around the 1870's - 1890's. Using an overhead projection unit Marsha had many photos of the murals depicting the time consuming process of the restoration from beginning to final touch-up. The murals had damage done to them such as a shotgun blast, bullets from guns that were fired in the old saloon, nicks from pool sticks and balls and other associated transgressions over the years.

Over time people tried to either restore the murals or simply painted over sections of them using various paints including household paint applied with wide brushes. Using a process of gently removing layers of these newer paints Marsha eventually uncovered sections of the original painting. Portions of the murals that were too far destroyed had to be repainted. All three murals have now been sealed from environmental elements and hopefully no one ever again will fire a shotgun at the murals inside the Gold Coin.

Al & Annette Van Buskirk from Coarsegold, California were the other featured speakers of the day and presented a fascinating talk of the time consuming research they performed on discovering who the painter of the three murals really was. Marsha Crawford had mentioned that the painter of the murals had used expensive paints and was a knowledgeable artist. The Van Buskirk's met Marsha Crawford as they wandered the streets of Mariposa one evening after enjoying dinner at Savoury's Restaurant. They looked in the window of the Gold Coin and watched Marsha as she was busy working on one of the murals. After gaining permission to enter the building they met Marsha as she was taking a break from her restoration and they began discussing the murals.

Al was intrigued with the Civil War scene that was depicted in one of the murals and was curious about the Clipper Ship. He was also interested to know what the name of the lighthouse was in one of the murals. After inquiring around Mariposa about who painted these murals they were informed that there had been several murals inside the Gold Coin at one time, seven total with three surviving, and the artist was named "Con Vega" (Cornelius Everett Vejar) who had painted several other murals around Mariposa during the mid 1890's.

After much research on the Internet Al finally found an image of the same scene that was depicted in one of the Gold Coin murals. The image was painted by artist/author Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937) and is titled 'Women and Children First'. In fact it was with this ship (the Birkenhead) sinking where the phrase 'Women and Children First' originated from. Mr. Hemy was a sailor and world traveler when he was in his twenties and he landed in many ports including San Francisco and had been know for painting several images of the perils of sea travel. Through Al and Annette's research they discovered that Mr. Hemy had repainted this scene three different times and three different ways making slight changes to the paintings each time.

Although the Buskirk's have not yet found direct information linking Mr. Hemy to Mariposa their goal is to find a tie-in between the time Mr. Hemy was in San Francisco and a possible visit to Mariposa. This information along with Marsha Crawford's assessment of the type of painter that painted the original murals means it could well be that Mr. Hemy is indeed the artist. It's a possibility that while his ship was in dry dock in San Francisco he decided to visit Mariposa and leave behind these now cherished paintings to be enjoyed by both residents and tourists alike.

Photo Credit: (middle photo) Leroy Radanovich, (top & bottom photos) Sierra Sun Times


For more information on the Gold Coin and the murals, see: Leroy Radanovich’s Mariposa Life – The Fremont Adobe

For more information on Marsha Crawford: Welcome to Pangea Pacific Mind Trust Studios

And Mariposa Museum and History Center  &  Bett's Gold Coin and Sports Bar