Inventory ID 39447: This unusual piece is a matchsafe which was created in the form of a silver ingot. It says "U.S. Assay Office New York 1892" and is engraved "Col. J. C. C. From E. O. Z. XMAS 1895." The piece is marked "Ozs 1.25" and the actual weight is 1.5 oz. It appears to be silver heavily plated on brass. $5,250 Now on sale $2,500
Inventory ID: 39497 This beautiful piece is a gold faceplate which was cut from one of the ingots recovered from the SS Central America. It weighs 13.76oz and is one of about 60 total. The original ingot was 184.09oz and is labeled 908 Fine. The size is about 5 13/16 x 2 1/2 inches and it is approximately 1/8 inch thick. $27,500
Inventory ID: 39498.This beautiful piece is another gold faceplate which was cut from one of the ingots recovered from the SS Central America. It weighs approximately 10oz and is one of about 15 total. The original ingot was 106.08oz and is labeled 887 Fine. The size is about 4 3/4 x 1 15/16 inches and it is approximately 1/8 inch thick. $40,000 Sold
Inventory_ID: 39445 The finest historical ingot known from Colorado $75,000.00
Inventory_ID: 39445 26.749 Grams, 0.86 Troy Ounces, 89% Gold, 7% Silver $3,500.00
Inventory_ID: 39448 "This silver ingot was a personal keepsake of Horace Rantlett, a prominent California mining man. In 1887 his office was in the prestigious building at 420 Montgomery Street in San Francisco which housed so many mining professionals. That year, Rantlett had reopened the Newton Mine in Amador County. The mine was discovered in the 1860’s and operated intermittently until Rantlett acquired it in 1886. After he reopened the mine, it became one of the most important copper mines in the County, and produced nearly continuously for at least the next two decades. The mine was located on the stage road between Jackson and Sutter Creek, now known as Highway 49, the famous Mother Lode highway. Rantlett was born in Massachusetts about 1842, and died at the mine in 1911 at the age of 69. He wore the ingot in the middle of his watch chain for all to see as a proud memento of a rich and famous mine that he reopened. (ref: San Francisco Directory 1887; Copper Resources of California by Lewis Aubury, 1908, pp 222-3.) " $7,500.00
"This small tin ingot bearing Molitor’s name is now the fifth tin ingot from the Dakota tin region at Harney Peak and nearby areas of the Black Hills. Lead and Deadwood were the center of mining activity in the region, all developed around the famous Homestake Mine. Tin discoveries in the early 1880’s made quite a stir, and it is one of the reasons that Stephen Molitor of the famous San Francisco assayer family A. Molitor went to Deadwood and Lead. One of the discoveries was made at Nigger Hill, and this is the only ingot commemorating that specific discovery. A large round tin, crudely made medal is also known from Nigger Hill commemorating the discovery. Tin was discovered in the Black hills in 1876, and in 1883-4 the tin ores from cassiterite were so exciting that the Harney Peak Tin Mining, Milling and Manufacturing Co. was formed to exploit the ores. This ingot states on one side that it is made of tin from Nigger Hill, a tin deposit in the northern part of the Black Hills close to the Wyoming South Dakota border. A number of mining camps arose in tin country, including Tinton and Hill City. The tin of this region was produced from a series of pegmatite veins a few inches to a few feet wide. Some of the tin mines were originally mined for their thick crystalline muscovite mica. It was estimated that the total production of tin in Dakota by 1929 was not more than 100,000 pounds. Tin is an indispensible metal that has been used by man throughout time, and in the last century or so has seen its uses even greater than imagined. When this ingot was made, tin ores were worth the same approximate price as gold, hence the presence of miners, mining rushes and assayers. (Mineral Wealth of the Black Hills, by Connolly & O’Hara, 1929) This tin ingot is markedly different from the other Molitor tin ingots. It carries both the name of the owner and the mining district. H. W. Pinneo was a merchant in Deadwood and a co-proprietor of the local newspaper. His unusual name makes research relatively easy, but the location of the mining camps makes it difficult because of the lack of directory canvassing. The other tin ingots of Molitor were all assumed to be identical, but after inspection of the various photographs, most are different in some small way. The Pinneo ingot, however, is remarkably different and very special because of the multiple designations of place name and miner’s name. " $5,000.00
"3.24 ozs marked silver 777 fine, $3.26. This small trapezoidal ingot that measures about 1/2"" square and 2"" long probably dates to the 1875-1885 period, though it could be earlier. The purity would indicate it is probably from a western mining camp as opposed to one of the main silver mines of the 1880-1882 period. " $750.00