In 1934, Emperor Norton was reburied at Woodlawn cemetery, in Colma, Calif., with a new rose granite headstone featuring an inscription whose deeply engraved letters and numbers were hand-gilded with real gold leaf.

It appears that the gilding lasted for several decades. But, eventually, the “illumination” wore off and the inscription mostly was bare, except for the faintest traces of gold and noticeable spots of mossy green film borne of the stone’s years-long exposure to sea air.

The stone still looked this way until very recently. But, in May 2021, Woodlawn quietly brought the inscription back to life.

Includes photo-documentation of the Emperor’s headstone in 1934, 1989/90, 2016, 2019 and today.