Arizona

Items which have sold or are otherwise no longer available have been moved to the Sold Items Archive

RFG-47. Arizona Assay Certificate Collection, AZ c 1890-1960

Ten different assay certificates as follows: J.R. Halsey 1897; Merrimac Mining Company Assays Chlorride 1899 two pages; Cedar Valley MC Assays 1890’s unissued; Copper Queen Bisbee 1912; Selby Smelting Pearce two pages 1914; Bill & Jack Wickenburg 1935; Old Dominion Assay Office Globe 1922; Wickenberg Ore Market 1944; McAllister Kingman 1940; Arizona Assay Office Phoenix, Chasdiehl 1952. In general, this collection is Fine to Very Fine. No photograph. $400.

RFG-49. Arivaca Milling & Refining Co. Laboratory & Assay Receipt, AZ Territory 23-Sep 1881

Assay receipt for samples from the Californie Mine submitted by J.A. Fawcett. The samples averaged about $218 per ton silver and totaled $241.17. Signed by M.L. Geronld. The vignette is of a large mill scene. This certificate may be in reference to the California Mine at Oro Blanca, which was very active in the 1870’s and early 1880’s. This piece is in Fine condition with some creasing and light stains. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. $1,650.

RFG-50. Cedar Valley Gold and Silver Mining Company, AZ Territory c 1890

Unissued assay certificate for samples from the 1890’s. No vignettes. There is a water stain along top edge. Otherwise, the condition is Very Fine. $50.

RFG-51. Cerro Colorado. Arizona Mining Company 5 cent Silver Scrip. c 1863

The Arizona Mining Company. Our Story . . .

The appearance of the Cerro Colorado Arizona Mining Company scrip note in the John J Ford Collection stirred a lot of emotion out of a few of us, especially me (FH). I researched the company years ago for the Garbani Sale in 2002 when we sold one of the rare Arizona Mining Company stock certificates with a vignette of the company’s key mine, the Heintzelman. The majority of the story from that catalog is here, integrated into the text that I have added. Since that time in 2002, we sold a collection of survey books from the Sopori Ranch (1859-61) that contained important notes regarding Apache attacks. That archive was further evidence the Apaches had run off all the miners in the region, and without military protection, would maintain their control. Midway through the Civil War in late 1863-4, control of the region was regained, and mines reopened.

The appearance of the note caused me to go into a much more in-depth search of information. One of the interesting things I found from my early research was that the company explored the making of private coins, discussed by Guido Kustel in his letters to Heintzelman. Unfortunately, we do not know if they actually made any because none of those coins survive today. So when this 5 cent note appeared, I went on a new search in the historical record for scrip.

The search revealed significant information. Cerro Colorado was the discovery, supposedly, of the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company. While Spaniards or Mexicans may have discovered the mine in prior decades or even the previous century, it was nonetheless brought into production in 1857. Its old Spanish or Mexican name was lost to that time (1757-1857). That company reincorporated in 1860 under the same name and did it again in 1863 under the new name of the Arizona Mining Company. But it was not the first Arizona Mining Company. In February 1855, a group of men incorporated the Arizona Mining Company in San Francisco. The Company “was found with the object of opening certain silver mines, . . . which, according to history had been worked by the Mexicans . . . with extraordinary success.” “Planche de la Plata . . . yielded masses of pure silver weighing more than 20 arrobas, a Spanish weight of 25 pounds.” “Necessity, however, arising from remoteness of situation, and the war hoop of the savage, had long since occasioned the abandonment of this mine. A Frenchman, Count Rousset, obtained a grant for the mine from Santa Ana, but the Mexicans captured and executed him.” The Arizona Mining Company was formed in late 1854 by 20 organizers from San Francisco who had found a lump of silver weighing 21 pounds. When they returned to San Francisco with the silver and copper ores, they filed the appropriate papers for incorporation. But the silver mine was soon disregarded, and all focus went to the copper mine, which became known as the Arizona Mine. Reports of its successes were soon published in journals, such as the Mining Magazine, edited by William Tenney (“Arizona Copper Mines” pp 384-5, Fall, 1857) and in the Canadian Journal of Industry Science and Art (“The Arizona Copper Mine” by James Gilbert, September, 1857, pp321-324). Other reports soon hit the western press. The Alta California carried several articles on Heintzelman’s efforts and those of his competitor Sylvester Mowrey. The Alta boasted: “The mines are reckoned to contain the richest silver lodes in the known world.” (9/7/1857 report of Correspondent published 12/25/1857)

The scrip is not mentioned in Samuel Peter Heintzelman’s Journals, published in 1980 (Diane North). The Company had continued problems paying workers, and it would appear that if scrip was used, it would have been mentioned because pay in any form was one of the things in desperate need by the Sonora Exploring and Mining Co. Mowrey’s competing company, the Arizona Land and Mining Company, worked property away from Cerro Colorado, so it is unlikely that its shortened name of the “Arizona Mining Company” issued scrip at Cerro Colorado, since they were operating properties elsewhere.

The likely period of issue for this scrip is late 1863 or early 1864 at the time when miners returned to the mine after it and the Apaches sacked the surrounding area in 1861. The scrip is made in the style, size and manner similar to Federal fractional currency, and this period in American history was rife with fractional issues, both public and private. The fact that there was little or no circulating coin was also of great importance, because Mexican and Apache warriors would steal coin if it was present, a simple fact of history from the past two decades in the area. Paper currency presented a form of money that was of no interest to bandits.

The currency itself does not have the name of a printer. Root, Anthony & Co. in New York printed the Arizona Mining Company stock certificate in 1863. The two pieces are different enough that no real parallel comparison or assumption of the printer can be made, except perhaps that the printing of the scrip note is rather crude in some respects, and does not resemble the quality of the New York printing job. The reverse printing on the note is not aligned with the obverse printing, and the printing quality overall is somewhat crude, certainly not close to the quality of the Arizona MC stock certificate. The suggestion of a printer is therefore obvious: 1) the piece shows no printer along the lower edge 2) the piece is crude, both front and back 3) the piece is for 5 cents, suggesting an expensive NYC printer was not used 4) The office of the Arizona Mining Company was in Tubac. This suggests that the piece was printed at the office of the Arizonan newspaper, established in 1858, with a printing press brought in by the Wrightson brothers who worked for Hientzelman and his crew. As such, it is certainly one of the earliest Arizona imprints extant.

Tubac, the site of the Arizona Mining Company’s main office, and where this note was probably printed.

From: The Apache Country: A Tour Through Arizona and Sonora By J. Ross Browne.

This scrip note is not only incredibly rare, but the size is very unusual as well. There is a “5” in the center in the style of a first issue fractional back and “Valle Un Media De Plata Compania” in green larger font on the reverse. The note is in Very Fine condition with light discoloration and faint creasing. This is the earliest known Arizona scrip and perhaps one of the most historically significant pieces of western scrip in existence. The reverse details the same information as the front in Spanish, rather than English. $32,500.

History of the Arizona Mining Company

The Arizona Mining Company bought all the properties of the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company, the first known mining company of Americans in Arizona. The company was owned by “New York Capitalists” according to Sylvester Mowry in his 1864 book Arizona and Sonora, . . . History and Resources of the Silver Region of North America.

The mine is in the region known as “Cerro Colorado”. It is one of several mines in the area worked by Spanish and Mexican miners dating as far back as at least 1751. The Heintzelman, Arivaca, and others are part of a group of mines within about seven miles of each other that make up the Cerro Colorado region on and near the Arivaca Ranch. It was among the most active of the pre-1800 mining regions in the Arizona-Sornora-New Mexico areas, all owned by Mexico prior to the Gadsden Purchase in 1848. The American period is marked by Sam Heintzelman and Charles Poston’s visit to the area in 1854 and their plans to promote the mines. They hired Henry Ehrenberg and Fred Brunckow as mining engineer and assayer and proceeded to leave Texas for Tubac on an exploring mission that would take the better part of a year. Much of their effort was taken around the Cerro Colorado area, the Heintzelman and Arivaca in particular. Over the years the mine suffered greatly from Apache attacks. Indeed, the Apache controlled the area for long periods of time over a nearly 50 year period in which few white men dared entry. The Apache killed miners, explorers, and even ran off famous mining engineer Raphael Pumpelly and his men in 1861. It was a brutal time in western expansion history, not completely over until the death of Cochise and capture of Geronimo in the 1870’s. Written record of the mining history is scant and summarized below.

One of the first Americans to write about the mine was W.H. Emory in his Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth in Missouri to San Diego, California, as part of his assignment to look for a southern transcontinental railroad route from 1846-7, published in 1848. Famous frontiersman Kit Carson was one of the guides. During his travel along the Gila, he was often asked about the Apache seen lining the distant ridges on horseback “I would not trust one of them” while the Mexicans said “We hate and will kill them all.” Of the Cerro Colorado mines, Emory said “We learned that those who worked them make their fortunes; but the Apaches did not like their proximity, and one day turned out and destroyed the mining town, driving off the inhabitants.” He noted that all that was left at the time were “remains of some twenty or thirty adobe houses, and ten or fifteen shafts sinking into the earth.”

By the late 1850’s, conditions were not much better when John Bartlett performed the US Boundary survey from 1850-1853. Some of the party then had heard rumors of rich buried treasure at or near Cerro Colorado, abandoned during one of the many deadly Apache raids. “Several men took their discharge here for the purpose of clearing out the shaft and getting the buried treasure. After several weeks labor, they reached the bottom, and even reached some feet below the surface. Veins of gold were found, but not sufficient to pay the cost . . . the spot was abandoned . . . Mexicans who had formerly resided here assured me that the existence of silver was known to many at the time, but being in the very heart of the Apache could not be worked.”

When Sylvester Mowry wrote in 1864 about this trip there, ostensibly as part of the Sonora Exploring and Mining party in 1859-60, he cited that the Arizona Mining Company had bought the property. (Mowry was running a competitive exploration venture in the late 1850’s and early 1860’s to that of Heintzelman, and their paths often crossed in the search for investors.) Typical of the early mines in the region, it was fort-like. Of his visit in 1860 he wrote: “I was surprised on our arrival to the mine . . . to see the appearance of a Mexican village, built around the nucleus of a fort . . . The hacienda of the Cerro Colorado presented probably the most striking scene of life and energy in the Territory. About 120 peons were in the employ of the Company, the works were in active operation; vast piles of ore were cast up daily from the bowels of the earth . . . ” But in 1863, it was desolate and deserted. “The adobe houses were fast falling to ruin . . . the rich piles of ore lying in front of the shafts had been sacked and robbed by marauding Mexicans, nothing was to be seen except wreck and ruin . . . ” (The term peon, as used by Mowry, had a more specific meaning than it does today. Then, a peon was a form of slavery as practiced by Mexicans. Emory discussed the practice briefly, but only mentioned that it was a different form of involuntary servitude than that practiced in America.) Poston and Mowry climbed down the ladders into the mine, but it was too full of water to reach any of the working levels. The 100 foot deep shaft had 70 feet of water in it. The Mexicans had been carting the ore off to Saric in Sonora, and the wagon wheel tracks were still evident. J. Ross Brown, who wrote Adventures in Apache Country quotes Mowry word for word about the Heintzelman because he never went there, probably because of the Apache trouble and imminent danger of death.

The Sonora Exploring and Mining Co. (SEMC) was begun in 1854 as an investment in mines in southern Arizona by Sam Heintzelman, Chas. Poston, William Wrightson and mining engineer Herman Ehrenberg. Heintzelman was a military man who had been involved with the exploration of the territory for numerous years. They made as their camp the crossing of the Colorado River at Fort Yuma, which they later laid out as Colorado City (Yuma). It was not until 1856 that their idea of exploring for precious metals actually got off the ground while Heintzelman was stationed across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Poston and Heintzelman then formalized the idea they had concocted while at Fort Yuma in 1854. Hamilton, in Resources of Arizona published in 1884, states that Poston and Heintzelman formed the Arizona Mining Company in 1855 at the same time as the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company. That was a different company, as we learned earlier. When Raphael Pumpelly went to the mines in 1860-1861 with Poston and others, they were run off the by Apaches, afraid for their lives. Indeed, Poston’s brother, William Wrightson, and others were killed by the Apaches while surveying on one of their mining ventures in 1861. The 1855 date of formation of the company is backed up in Heintzelman’s biography Samuel Peter Heintzelman and the Sonora Exploring and Mining Co., written by North in 1980. North related that Heintzelman was the one selling the SEMC stock in Cincinnati while he was stationed there. He sold to wealthy Cincinnati merchants, Brown Bros. & Co. of London, Samuel Colt (firearms manufacturer) and others.

In August of 1856 the group reached Tucson, then moved south to Tubac, where Company headquarters were established in an old Spanish presidio. From there, Heintzelman, Poston, Ehrenberg, Brunckow, Wrightson and others carried out their explorations mostly under the name Sonora Exploring and Mining Co., but also as the Arizona Mining Co., which was probably a wholly owned subsidiary, though this was not a common practice at the time. The Company bought the Arivaca Ranch, which contained most or all of the mines that were known to have been worked historically by the Spanish and Mexicans in the 1700’s and early 1800’s, and before the Apache wars of the early and mid nineteenth century. By February 1, 1857, Fred Brunckow had reported the “discovery of a vein of silver ore located about one mile from the summit of the southeastern side of the Cerro Colorado. He named the vein the Heintzelman Mine,” wrote North. Records of just which company controlled which mines seems obfuscated in the historical record. However, the SEMC had complete control. The AMC was an unused securities vehicle, idle until its needed use in 1863-4 as discussed later. In 1860, the company reported that they had sold over $45,000 in metals produced from the mine, and had on hand another $26,000 ready for shipment. Heintzelman, the president, had reported in an 1858 letter “that all the ore smelted to that date yielded $928 per ton.”

(This is where the note was used)

From: The Apache Country: A Tour Through Arizona and Sonora By J. Ross Browne.

In 1861, renowned mining geologist Raphael Pumpelly and others visited the mine. He built two furnaces, upgraded mining methods, and began production in a more sophisticated manner. He later wrote that the veins were thin and the mining “mere prospecting,” but processing even small amounts of ore was necessary to meet expenses. He and other workers shipped a wagon load of ore to the Salero. As they approached, they were “waylaid and massacred by the Apaches.” Pumpelly held the rest of the crew together, smelted the ore, but within a few weeks, the Apaches massacred the crew at the Heintzelman, killing John Poston’s brother and others. That was the end of an era at the Heintzelman. (Lenon in Mining History of Arizona, vIII). The Arizona Mining Company seems to have remained dormant from 1855 to 1863. It was probably an unused corporate shell set up by the Poston-Heintzelman group for possible later use as the mines on the Arivaca Ranch were developed. Regardless, it was revived and incorporated in New York by Samuel Colt and his associated investors in 1863.

Heintzelman and Poston had tired of the search for ores on their properties and agreed to sell the holdings of the Sonora Exploring and Mining Co. to Sam Colt and friends. On August 13, 1863, the two companies executed a document transferring the title in the Arivaca Ranch, the mines and property to the Arizona Mining Co. for $500,000, which included current shareholders retaining stock in the new company. Meanwhile, the lease for the mining properties, etc., was held by a different party, and that lease was also transferred to the AMC for a reported $2.5 million, probably in stock. The ores processed and metals sold as reported to shareholders in the early 1860’s do not validate such an exorbitant price for the property and lease, thus my suspicion is that the entire deal was for stock and a minimal amount of cash. Colt sent M.O. Davidson, a mining engineer, to run the Heintzelman.

The company continued through 1870, though little is written of its efforts or the metals mined, except by Browne. By 1868, the Heintzelman became known as the Colorado Mine (short for Cerro Colorado). J. Ross Browne, in Mineral Resources of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains, 1868, reported that the north-south striking lode was generally a 22 inch wide vein, exposed for 2200 feet along strike as it cut a porphyritic country rock. It was reported to shareholders as containing six per cent silver on the average with copper and some gold, which equated to about $120 per ton then. Noted mining engineer Guido Kustel, an expert on the Comstock silver ores, had just published a book on processing of silver ores in 1863 when he was asked to investigate the ores of the Heintzelman and others at Cerro Colorado (Arivaca Ranch). His first comment cited by Browne was: “The characteristic feature of this mine is the rich ore that shows everywhere . . . The best mines in Santa Rita are those lately discovered, of which no outcropping was to be seen. This was also the case with the Heintzelman lode.” Thus we know that Ehrenberg, Brunckow, and others before the Colt group did not possess the skills of exploration geologists, and it was not until the Colt group took control that they began organized exploration (visualize the California Gold Rush, where miles of quartz veins were closely investigated after 1850, but it took two years, 1848-1850, until the miners realized there were valuable lode deposits.) Kustel also reported that the Heintzelman shaft was about 100 feet deep, and supplied sufficient water for 100 men and the reduction works.

Poston again became involved with the Company in 1870. He tried in vain, apparently, to lure European investors to the AMC properties. The company died a quiet death shortly afterward.

RFG-52. Gillette. Tip Top Mine, George Webber, Silver Ingot, Gillette, AZ Territory

Photo Courtesy of Stack’s, Lot 3545, John J. Ford, Jr. Collection Part XX & XXI, October 2007 Sale.

This is certainly one of the most beautiful of all the Arizona ingots, of which there are only a handful known. The Tip Top Mine was discovered in 1875 and was worked continuously through 1883, when its ore was “exhausted” and the mine subsequently shut down, according to H. Burchard in his Report of the Director of the Mint that year. The silver mine had rich silver ores, including ruby silver. The ores often ran and average of $300 per ton, particularly during the last five years. The mine was the namesake of the Tip Top Mining District and other mines nearby also produced silver for a time.

Webber was born in 1827 in Massachusetts. He probably went to California or Nevada in the late 1860’s to work in mines. In 1872, he relocated to San Francsisco, the financial center of the west, and was listed in the San Francisco Directory as a quartz miner. About 1873 or 1874 he became Superintendent of the Belmont Mining Company at Belmont, Nevada, one of the richest silver mines of central Nevada. Coincidentally, this cataloger worked on the mine in the late 1970’s. The Belmont Mining Company was incorporated in 1872 in San Francisco, and Webber undoubtedly talked his way into a position with the company. Mining started in 1872, and by the end of the year they had a considerable amount of ore mined and stockpiled on the surface, awaiting milling to reduce the ores. Mining continued through 1873 when a rich strike was made at the Belmont, and the stock took off. A long story of the discovery can be found in Raymond’s Mineral Resources West of the Rocky Mountains, 1874, pp230-1.

Webber ran the Belmont mine until late 1875, when he was replaced. He returned to San Francisco, becoming a partner in the Union Lumber Yard and Door Construction Company with B. Frank Page. In April, 1878, he was appointed superintendent of the Tip Top Mine, in Arizona, probably the result of mining friends in San Francisco. He spent several days in advance of his taking over management of the mine reviewing other producing mines in the area. This was a wise and prudent move, typical of senior mine management today. Once at the mine, Webber promised to get the mill up and running regularly, which was a problem that plagued his predecessor, Mr. Hoffamn. By April 26, Webber had made his first shipment. (From the Prescott Weekly Arizona Miner, April 26, 1878) “Bullion: The Gillette Stage, which arrived last evening, brought in six bars of bullion worth nine thousand five hundred four dollars and fifteen cents, proceeds of four days run at the Tip Top mill.” The bars contained 8,237.31 ounces of .864 to .910 fineness. The 150 employees at the mine and mill regularly toured agents of the press, who kept the Tip Top stock well promoted. Typical of any western mine, water was a constant problem, as were various mill additives. Webber shipped the silver bullion to San Francisco, which amounted to about $40,000 per month for more than two years. Eastern shareholders soon tired of the lack of dividends paid. Webber was injured in March 1881, and resigned his position one year later and returned to San Francisco, where he consulted in mining matters. He was again appointed mine superintendent to a mine in 1889 (unknown presently) prior to his retirement.

This ingot is from the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, and is one of only five surviving ingots known today from all Arizona mines. $37,000.

For another Arizona related ingot, please see the Berry Ingot in our Nevada City, California Section.

RFG-53. Globe. Correspondence from the Borva Copper Mining Company, Globe, AZ c 1882-1883

Group of five letters consisting of ten pages and four original postal covers addressed to Mr. Sidney A. Pernot in Van Buren, Arkansas. Each cover has a printed corner advertisement for the Borva Copper Mining Company and bold Globe postal cancellation showing the postmaster. The letters discuss mining matters of all sorts. They are signed White. The printed letterheads for the company indicate the Superintendent in 1882 was S.L. Burbridge and in 1883 was J.J. Williams. Very Fine. $1,200.

RFG-54. Hackberry Mill & Mining Company Ultra Rare $5 Note, Hackberry, AZ Territory 21-Dec 1878

No.83 Note payable to Melvin Bros. for $5 United States Gold Coin, signed by Henry Raymond. This company's main office was in San Francisco. This note surfaced recently with a $2.50 gold note and an ingot.

The Hackberry is five miles east of Mineral Park in Mohave County, some distance from Kingman. The mine was perhaps discovered in the 1860’s, and began significant production in the early 1870’s. By about 1875, it was estimated that $300,000 had been removed from the mine. A district of the same name was formed once significant production started, and other mines in the vicinity were developed including the Hester, Descent, and South Hackberry. A mill was built in the early 1870’s, but the whole operation was relatively inactive by 1875, possibly the result of a change in management or ownership.

By 1880, work and mining had begun again after geologic evaluation of the property located much ore “in sight” according to Burchard in his Report of the Director of the Mint, 1881. Hamilton, in Resources of Arizona, 1884, noted that the Hackberry vein was about forty feet wide in granite. The pay streak was less than two feet wide averaging about $200 per ton. The note is an R8, possibly Unique. It is one of only a handful of Arizona mining related bank notes. The note has been heavily folded, has significant soiling, some chips along top and bottom edges and would probably grade in the Good to Very Good category. There is nothing on the reverse. $8,500.

RFG-56. Kingman. Lynch Assay Office and Chemical Laboratory, Kingman, AZ 16-Apr 1896

Assay receipt signed by John Lynch. Letterhead with handwritten assay of ore samples from the Cedar Valley Gold and Silver Mining Company. The assays show ores ranging from 12.5 ounces per ton silver to 203 ounces per ton. Gold assays are about 0.20 ounces per ton to 1.10 ounces. Generally Very Fine, with a small stain along left edge. $150.

RFG-57. Kofa. Golden Star Mines Co. Assay Certificate, Kofa, AZ 12-Sep 1909

Certificate of Assay for mill solutions. The high grade ran about 0.4 ounces per ton gold. “Kofa” stands for King of Arizona. Extremely Fine. $75.

RFG-59. Phoenix. E.E. Ford Assay Office and Chemical Laboratory Letter, Phoenix, AZ 16-Jun 1896

Handwritten letter to C.D. Clark in Los Angeles. This is a fancy letter sheet with a beautiful blue under print of a miner at top center and a description of the company's business along the top margin. Involves the sale of some assay equipment but is exceptionally difficult to read. Very Fine. $175.

RFG-61. Tucson. E.A. Jacobs, Assayer, Handwritten Letter, Tucscon, AZ Territory 20-Apr 1904

This letter is written on company stationary and signed by E. A. Jacobs. It accompanied a certificate for samples submitted for assay and explains the rates charged by the assayer. It is on standard 8.5 x 11” paper and handwritten in black ink. The letterhead is printed in purple. Three

small tears on top edge, and creasing but otherwise Fine. $350.

RFG-62. Tucscon. L.M. Jacobs & Co. Check Signed By W.F. Witherell (Assayer) Tucson, AZ 26-Nov 1878

3 x 8.5” check with black print on crème paper with a vignette of an Indian at the left. The check is endorsed with a signature on the reverse. It is payable to Leon Lacaze and signed by W.F. Witherell, an important figure in western mining history. Witherall was later an assayer in Carson City. There is a hole at the upper left corner and creasing. Otherwise this piece is Very Fine. No photograph. $300.

RFG-64. Tucson. W.T. Rickard Laboratory and Assay Office Receipt, Tucson, A.T. 23-Jan 1880

In 1880 Rickard was an assayer in Tombstone. This Assay Receipt "By Special Authority of the Government of Chile." Ore samples deposited by Col. Witherell, signed by W.T. Rickard F.C.S. This is the same Col. Witherell shown on the Arivaca assay receipt, who later opened an assay office in Carson City, Nevada. This receipt is for three samples of silver, gold and copper ore, probably from one of Col. Witherell's properties in southern Arizona near Arivaca. It is signed by Rickard. W.T.

Rickard was a well known southwestern U.S. mining man and possibly the father or grandfather of T.A. Rickard, one of the most famous geologists of the early post 1900 southwestern mining booms. W.T. Rickard. W.T. Rickard wrote a lecture on the reduction of ores of the Comstock in 1866, and was an important figure in the California Gold Rush, the Comstock and the Tombstone Rush before returning to London in 1881. While we believe that T.A. Rickard may have been his son or grandson, in our research we were unable to find a biographical sketch. Fine condition with slight discoloration at creases and some staining. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. $2,500.

RFG-65. Tucson. Pinal Gold and Silver Mining Company Note, Tucson, AZ c 1880

Note No. 167 This Pinal Gold and Silver Mining Company one-dollar note is probably the only such note extant. Extremely Rare, One Dollar U.S. Currency #167 printed on bond paper. “One Dollar” printed in center, signed by J. M. Morrison, Superintendent.

The Pinal Gold and Silver Mining Company was formed in late 1876 and operated until about 1879. It was reformed in the mid 1880’s as the Pinal Consolidated MC with significant production. The years in between may have been marred by a lawsuit. We see this type of activity when a new company emerges with a similar name to the old one, then immediately goes into large-scale production. For example, the Pinal Consolidated produced $207,771 in 1883, and $20,000 in 1884. There was no reported production in 1880 or 1881 as shown in Burchard’s Report of the Director of the Mint for those years. By mid 1879, the company was not trading on the San Francisco Mining Stock Exchange.

The Pinal Gold & Silver MC office was located in San Francisco, at 402 Montgomery, from 1876 until 1878. The superintendent listed on the bank note, J. M. Morrison, is not listed as a resident of San Francisco during that period and may have been the mine Superintendent in Arizona, though Orlando. H. Bogart was the Secretary. In 1879 the office moved to Liedsdorf Street. The Mine is not reported in Hinton’s Handbook for Arizona or Hamilton’s Resources of Arizona, both key references for Arizona mines for the 1870’s and 1880’s. It is also not listed in the 1881 Disturnell Arizona Business Directory, nor was Morrison. Balch (Mines, Miners and Mining Interests in the United States) lists the Consolidated Company without much notice (1883).

It is unclear if the company owned the Pinal Lode or if they were active elsewhere in Pinal County. The lode was located about 40 miles distance from the famous Silver King Mine near Pinal City. Note is in Extremely Fine condition with very faint creases, and one slight tear repaired with glue. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. $12,500.

RFG-66. Tucson. Rare First Day Postal Note, Tucson, AZ 1883

Postal notes were a specialized form of money that was a successor to fractional currency. They were issued to provide a form of currency that could be sent safely to other locations in America. They were first issued on September 3, 1883. Notes of this day of issue are Extremely Rare, as one might expect, but rarer still if from remote western towns. Among first day notes from Arizona this may be one of only two extant, with another first day note from Phoenix known to the author. This piece was from the Shingoethe Collection. Serial No. 53 This is, to our knowledge, the earliest known note from Arizona. The notes were designed to resemble currency and this note was made by the Homer Lee Bank Note Company, identified as Type 1, printed on yellow paper. The note is in very fine condition. $5,500.