New Delhi, Jan. 19 -- His name never crops up in modern investment literature, and yet in a more clear-eyed world, Samuel Brannan would have been anointed the patron saint of market acumen. Or at least would have chapters dedicated to him in business school textbooks. Brannan was a prominent businessman and Mormon preacher whose name is inextricably linked with one of the defining episodes of the 19th century-the great California gold rush.

Legend has it that one crisp morning early in 1848, some customers walked into a store operated by Brennan in Sacramento, California. After making their purchases, they stunned Brennan and the store employees by paying for the goods in gold! Upon enquiries, Brannan learnt that the customers worked for...