NEVADA
686. Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Co. Advertising Card Featuring Nevada c 1889
No. 89 Advertising card for Ariosa Coffee. 3 x 5”. This is one of a series of 50 cards with a map of a state or territory and a picture illustrating the industry of that state. This card shows Nevada and a picture of a mining stamp mill for silver ores. The reverse describes the product and series of advertising cards. This card is numbered 89. Lithographed by Donaldson Bros. New York. Extremely Fine. $100.
687. First Directory of Nevada Territory, NV 1862
Containing: The names of residents in the principal towns; a historical sketch; the organic act, and other political matters of interest; together with a description of all the quartz mills; reduction works, and all other industrial establishments in the territory; as also of the leading mining claims; and various mineral discoveries, works of internal improvements, etc, with a table of distances, list of public officers, and other useful information. Compiled from the most recent and authentic sources by J. Wells Kelly and including sketches of the Washoe Silver Mines by Henry De Groot. Introduction by Richard Lingenfelter. Reprint of the original 1862 Territorial Directory. The Talisman Press. Los Gatos, California 1962. No photograph. $200. Sold
688. Roughing It, Hartford, CT 1872
By Mark Twin (Samuel L. Clemens.) Fully Illustrated by Eminent Artists. Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. 1872. 1st Edition with appendixes. $650. Sold
689. History of Nevada with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. NV 1881
Angel, Myron, Editor. Thompson & West, 1st Edition. Howes A273. 680 pages, 116 plates, Illustrations. A classic “Little worth knowing about Nevada before 1881 that cannot be found in this book.” Recased in original leather spine and decorated cloth. Very good tight copy. $1,250. Sold
690. Nevada. Overland Stage and Express Agent’s (Supplier) Personal Log Book 1860-1863
Personal log book of places, mileage between stations, grass and water availability, names of ranchers. About fifty pages, written entirely in pencil. This 4 x 6” lined paper booklet is part of what once was probably a bound book in which the writer kept fairly detailed notes. Made at a time when paper was scarce to non-existent, the writer may have removed these pages to keep his records.
The beginning of the booklet contains notes from Texas with the names possibly of people traveling with the writer west. The first date of entry is October 11, 1860, when the group apparently leaves for or from Texas. The writer purchased feed many times, recording the price paid and places, and from whom. In March 1861 he left “home” (camp?) for the Indian Nation, returning sixteen days later. By mid 1862 he was in Salt Lake City, then headed west through Nevada, recording the places, distances and choice water and grass sites (recorded as “w & g”).
Regular entries are for shoeing horses, purchase of hay, pasture for stock, etc. By early 1863 he appears to be regularly working the trail in Nevada. He mentions Buckland, Roberts, Smiths Creek, Middlegate, Carson Sink, “Dog Valley to head of Little Truckey”, Jackson’s Ranch. Then the writer turns and heads east, back to Sulphur Springs, Roberts Creek, Reese River, Cold Springs, Sand Springs, etc. dutifully recording the distances between each station and the places where he can find water and grass for his horses and stock, sometimes noting specific places. The notebook reflects going back and forth across Nevada at least twice, probably the time required to learn the route.
The writer was following the Pony Express Route which later became the route of the Overland Stage and Mail Express of John Butterfield, who started this line just before the demise of the Pony Express in 1861. As noted by Mason in The Pony Express in Nevada” (1976), the Overland Stage and Mail Express Company used several of these stops nearly exclusively, including Reese River and others.
This book appears to be written by a person employed by Butterfield for his Overland Express business. He is running horses and a few head of cattle back and forth across the state, apparently supplying the remote stage stops along the way. Unfortunately the writer is never identified, but the book gives an excellent record of this part of the stage business at a time when central Nevada was just getting discovered (Reese River silver discoveries of 1863). While the accounts are not detailed, it records the distances and places where he needed water and grass for his livestock, illustrating that this was of central concern. A small notebook with a transcript of the first half of the book is present. The provenance of the book itself is from an old Virginia City mining family. No photograph. $3,500.
Please see our Pony Express items under the Sacramento, California section for more information on overland mail.
Aurora
691. Aurora. Winnemucca Lode, Aurora Document, Mono County, CA (NV Territory) 1862
Sale of the Winnemucca Lode by the ten original claimants, and signed by each of them. The document is recorded in both Nevada Territory and California. The Winnemucca Lode was mentioned extensively by Samuel Clemens in his first volume of letters. This document has been signed by nine people plus witnesses. A portion of the lower part of the second page is detached, but present. Otherwise Very Good Condition. $600.
692. Aurora. Yancey Gold & Silver Mining Company Stock Certificate, Mono County, (NV Territory) - 8-August 1863
Cert. # 14. Incorporated March 1863 in Nevada. Issued to R.G. Northup in 1863 for 10 shares. Signed by Henry Smith, president and F.P. Wales, secretary. Vignette of allegorical woman seated on hillside with flag at center and with allegorical woman holding sheaves of wheat and bucket of ore at left. Uncancelled. Black print. Two revenue stamps at left. Silver Hill (district) written at top of certificate and Esmeralda under print. Lithographer Britton & Co., San Francisco. 9 ¾ x 5 ½.” Age discoloration, foxing at edges & some wrinkling, but Very Fine. No photograph. 1,200.
For other items from the Inyo-Mono County region, please see that section under California.
Austin
693. Austin. Manuscript Letter From H.J. Newmark to S. R. Hutchinson, Secty. Washington Silver Mining Company, Austin, Nevada – 13-March 1866
Quarto, ten pages. There is a small rare printed map which is folded and accompanies this letter. Map titled: Nevada Silver Mining Districts and Connections. Published by Waters – Son Sc. NY [nd. ca 1860’s], measures 10 x 11 ½,” on thin tissue paper.
This is a detailed letter discussing the financial and operating difficulties faced by Newmark attempting to develop the mine of the Washington Silver MC in Austin, the central silver mining camp in the Reese River District. The letter also touches on conditions and mining methods at Austin. “ . . . I am sorry to be compelled to complain again of the manner in which my demands for funds have been met in response to my call by telegraph on the 3rd for $5000.00. Mr. Clark forwarded me $1000.00. I must again say that it is useless to proceed in this manner for besides being very annoying and prejudicial not to have means on hand promptly to pay our debts it retards and impedes all my operations I can make no calculations whatever as to the number of men to employ or what materials to furnish . . . it is dangerous to be in debt in this country as creditors do not wait long before initiating legal proceedings and the costs in these matters are fearful . . . in answer to that part of Mr. Clark’s telegraph referring to purchase of Austin mill & property . . . I have investigated Austin mill property do not purchase will cost eighty-thousand coin to complete . . . with the last month I have examined thoroughly the mill questions and the Board will probably be surprise to hear that for the present I am opposed to building any mill there are a very large number of very fine mills already completed here and many of them have very indifferent mines to supply them with ores . . . they will be compelled to take custom ores and I feel satisfied that during the present year we shall be able to have ores worked at very low rates . . . Now my ideas with regard to the policy that should be pursued by our company . . . In the first place we have what I consider a very valuable mining property . . . all of our energies should be exercised to speedily, thoroughly and vigorously develop the same . . . In the next place I am in favor of adding to our mining property . . . there are in our immediate vicinity and running parallel with the Washington several other mines which I think could be got hold of upon very reasonable terms as the owners have no means to work them . . . I have seen many instances here where companies have expended all their working capital in the erection of mills & left nothing for the development of their mines, this you can see at a glance is a suicidal policy and I do not wish this Co. to be placed in such a predicament . . . all the famous mining companies of Washoe whose mines have turned out and are now yielding their millions of dollars yearly pursued the plan that I now suggest . . . ”
Letter formerly folded, in very good, clean, legible condition. No photograph. $1,750. Sold
694. Austin and Reese River Transportation Co. Stock, Austin, NV 27-Feb 1871
This receipt is for one dividend on two shares of capitol stock for the Austin and Reese River Transportation Company. This firm became semi famous when Mark Twain made fun of them. The company's name brings to mind a steamer, or other method of transportation down the Reese River. This “river”, however, is little more than an intermittent seasonal stream, easy to jump across in the summer, and not flowing year round in time of drought. Thus Sam Clemens had his fun with W. Gage's operation. Gage was also one of the managers of the Manhattan Silver Mining Company and an officer of one of the local banks. $120. Sold
695. Austin. Assay Office of Boalt & Stetefeldt, Austin, NV 16-Aug 1868
No. 3392 This is an Exceptionally Rare, R7, and possibly an R8, assay certificate From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. The assay is of a first class sample, which was 1860's nomenclature for high-grade ore. The source of this ore was the Rough & Ready Mine in the Amador District near Austin, and the sample was deposited by Captain S. Kidd. The ore was fairly rich, worth $279.67 per ton.
The certificate itself is certainly one of the most attractive of the early western certificates for a number of reasons. First of all, the certificate number is engraved in a vignette of an ingot at the upper left. This engraving is very important as it shows how ingots were punched on their face with serial numbers spaced out on two of their thin sides. Further, it shows two assay chips in diametrically opposed corners. The 5 cent adhesive Nevada revenue stamp at left bears the initials “B&ST” an abbreviation of Boalt and Stetefeldt.
About the time this assay certificate was issued the Manhattan Silver Mining Company began a massive consolidation of mines around Austin. As they mined deeper ores, they encountered fresh silver sulfide minerals, which were difficult to reduce. This firm created a new ore reduction process through a new type of furnace known as the Stetefeldt furnace, which allowed a number of mines to economically process high grade silver ores. The Stetefeldt furnace became commonplace throughout the west when high grade unoxidized ores were encountered.
Mike Hodder's description is summarized here: Assay receipt for sample of pulp, signed by Boalt & Stetefeldt. Revenue stamp at center left. Boalt, John H.; distinguished lawyer; a native of Ohio, born March 29, 1837; graduate of Amherst College; qualified as a mining and mechanical Engineer at Heidelberg and Freiberg; was a lieutenant in the war of the Rebellion; amassed a fortune in Nevada as one of the Stetefeldt Furnace Co., owning a new process for reducing ores; District Judge for Lander Co., Nev., term ending in 1871; located in S. F. in that year. (Sketch in Bench and Bar.) An article by him, on “The Silver Question,” is in the Overland Monthly, Nov. 1, 1886. Very Fine. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. $2,500.
696. Austin. Assay Office of J.S. Currie, Austin, NV 24-July 1864
No.2674 Assay receipt for Currie's firm of which little is presently known. It has an adhesive 5 cent Nevada revenue stamp at lower left and is Extremely Rare, possibly an R7, but probably an R8. Very Fine. $750. Sold
First National Bank of Nevada, Austin
Very little has been written on the early banking history of Nevada. This bank appears to have been formed to further the interests of the Manhattan Silver Mining Company, the largest mining company in Austin in the 1860’s. It was also the fist to consolidate the smaller mines, which worked to their complete advantage.
The First National Bank of Nevada was the first National Bank chartered in Nevada, opening in 1865. At the time, the largest bank was Paxton & Curtis, formed in 1863, where Allen Curtis was the “silent” partner. A direct connection to the New York financial market was needed, so FNB Nevada at Austin was formed.
The First National Bank’s agent, Allen Curtis, had a background worthy of the Vanderbilts in New York. He was the grandson of the great financier Robert Morris of New Jersey, a man credited with financing a young and fledgling new nation known as the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Curtis came to California in 1859 and worked for a firm in Sacramento through 1865, when he went to Austin to work for one of the mining companies as a bookkeeper. Curtis had been a stockholder of the Manhattan company, and soon went to work for them, elevating to the Superintendent’s position by February, 1867. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Curtis used his own finances to help the company during his superintendentship, which later earned him significant wealth. He turned over the keys to the operation in 1870 to his brother, by which time the pair owned most of the important mines in Austin.
By the end of the 1870’s, the Manhattan Company, now owned by the Curtis family, owned most of Lander Hill, and were a tremendously successful company. Allen remained at the helm of the company’s management until it was sold in the mid-1880’s.
Many of the early banks of the west needed their own internal assay office, since the source of the money deposited was bullion. FNB Nevada at Austin was no exception. This assay office was run by John R. Murphy, an Irishman born in 1834. Murphy left the Manhattan Company to run his own assay office in Austin, then headed to Hamilton for the White Pine Rush where he worked for a few years, and possibly with one of the other branches of the First National Bank of Nevada at Hamilton or Treasure Hill. By 1880, Murphy had remained in northeastern Nevada at Halleck, where he ran a ranch during his later years.
Much more can be learned of Curtis in Angel’s History of Nevada, p469-70, 1881. [refs: Angel; Warnes, Nevada’s Sixteen National Banks and their Mining Camps, 1974. Abbe, Austin and the Reese River Mining District, 1985.]
These assay certificates are Extremely Rare, probably high R7, with perhaps as few as three or four known. They are the only certificates known with a National Bank tie, and as such have great added significance.
697. First National Bank of Nevada Assay Office, Austin, NV 21-Jul 1866
No.270 Assay certificate for ores submitted from the Camayo Silver Mining Company, who's agent was C.F. Horn at Austin, NV. Singed by John R. Murphy, Assayer. $750. Sold
698. First National Bank of Nevada Assay Office, Austin, NV 17-May 1867
No.1024 Assay certificate for mill pulp deposited by the Manhattan Silver Mining Co. through their agent Alan Curtis, also an officer of this bank. This form was printed by J.D. Fairchild & Co., of the Daily Reveille Office, and signed by John R. Murphy, Assayer. $750.
699. Austin. Kent's Patent Improved Process for Saving Gold & Silver, New Haven, CT 17-Jan 1867
This is a four page informational flyer involving a new process to reduce and recover gold and silver ore when it occurred in fresh sulfides. Kent's Lab was in New York. He has two tables on the third page listing mines where his new process was used. These included some rather famous properties, including the Empire Mine in California and the Roman Mine at Austin, Nevada. The brochure includes a testimonial by John Torrey, Assayer at the NYAO, as well as another testimonial by Silliman, regarding a Grass Valley mining property estimate. Fine. $450.
David Lundbom, Assayer
Lundbom's history places him into the world of private gold rush coiners in an important way. Born in Sweden in 1816, Lundbom came to California for the gold rush. He was the Assistant Assayer for Curtis, Perry and Ward at the U.S. Assay Office in San Francisco from 1853 to 1854. Then he was the Assayer for Kellogg & Co. until late 1855, when he went to work for Blake & Co. of Sacramento, according to Owens. Clearly, he was one of the men responsible for some of the wonderful early coinage made by those two pioneer coinage firms.
By 1860, Lundbom had possibly moved to one of the smaller mining communities, since he is not found in the U.S. Census. He is not listed in the Nevada Territorial Directory of 1862, but as soon as the Reese River rush started in 1863 at Austin, Nevada, Lundbom went there and started the first (Pioneer) Assay Office, according to the Nevada 1863 Census. His business remained strong through at least 1870, and based on information from these certificates he had contracts with some of the largest mining companies in Austin.
Lundbom used at least five different forms through 1871, all illustrated here. Most or all of the Lundbom certificates came from the Manhattan Silver Mining Co archive, which was distributed about 30 years ago. The Lundbom certificates listed here probably comprise about 85% of the known examples. All of the assay receipts from the revenue stamp period contain adhesive Nevada revenue stamps. The Lundbom forms are all a little different. Please see individual descriptions.
700. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 12-Apr 1866
No. 1871 Specimen deposited for assay & assay results. This certificate was for a pulp sample from the Pistorine Mine deposited by William Pardye, a mining agent. Vignette of Miner at left, printed by Francis, Valentine & Co. San Francisco. Fine to Very Fine. $850.
701. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 9-Feb 1867
No. 2395 Specimen deposited for assay & assay results for a sample from an unknown mine deposited by John Grove of rather high grade silver, 177 ounces per ton. Vignette of Miner at left, printed by Francis, Valentine & Co. San Francisco. Fine to Very Fine. $750.
702. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 12-Apr 1867
No. 2535 Specimen deposited for assay and assay results for a sample of ore submitted by Charles Cover. Vignette of Lady Liberty at left and a miner at lower right. Printed by Reese River Reivelle. Fine to Very Fine. $750.
703. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 20-Apr 1867
No. 2556 Specimen deposited for assay and assay results for a sample submitted by Alan Curtis, Superintendent of the Manhattan Mining & Milling Co. Vignette of Lady Liberty at left and a miner at lower right. Printed by Reese River Reivelle. Fine to Very Fine. $750. Sold
704. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 24-May 1867
This assay receipt is for specimen of pulp marked “Lott 10th” deposited by Allen A. Curtis for Manhattan Co. Adhesive green .05 cent Nevada Revenue stamp at left. Assay shows 1.32 grains of silver, 80.19 ounces of silver at $129.29, is $103.67. Signed by David Lundbom. No photograph. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. $1,725.
705. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 22-Jul 1867
No. 2856 Specimen deposited for assay and assay results for an assay submitted by Thomas Cox. Vignette of Lady Liberty at left and a miner at lower right. Printed by Reese River Reivelle. Fine to Very Fine. $750.
706. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 22-Jul 1867
No. 2857 Specimen deposited for assay and assay results for an assay submitted by Thomas Cox. Vignette of Lady Liberty at left and a miner at lower right. Printed by Reese River Reivelle. Fine to Very Fine. $750.
707. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 25-Nov 1870
No. 7782 Specimen deposited for assay and assay results for a sample submitted by N.S. Gallagher. Vignette of Lady Liberty at left. No printer shown. Fine to Very Fine. $750.
708. Assay Office of D. Lundbom, Austin, NV 28-Aug 1871
No.8299 Specimen of pulp deposited by Mr. Julius Peterman signed by David Lundbom and D.J.Sydow. Allegorical vignette of two women at left. Printed by the Alta California. Document stained with ink and taped on left edge, otherwise in Good condition. $300.
709. Austin. Assay Office of Sydow & Lundbom, Austin, NV 13-Dec 1871
No. 8546 This certificate is a natural succession to the other Lundbom certificates. By 1871 Lundbom's business was so popular that he and his partner D. J. Sydow, created a second office in Eureka. Sydow continued to run the Austin Assay office and Lundbom ran the Eureka office. This certificate is out of the Austin office for a sample deposited by William Bone. This form is probably and high R7 or R8, Extremely Rare. Fine. $750.
710. Austin. Manhattan Silver Mining Company Monthly Statement, Austin, Nevada – 30-January 1875
Treasurer’s statement of the Coin Account. Handwritten on accounting paper, lists receipts and disbursements. Totals balance out at $283,228.62 for each. In January 1875 they sold $80,000 in silver bullion bars (64 bars), providing them with the balance noted above. This was a very successful firm. 8 ½ x 14.” There are some folds. Very Fine. No photograph. $375. Sold
711.No Lot
712. Austin. Stagecoach Robbery Letter, Austin, NV 4-Oct 1872
One page letter on the Manhattan Silver Mining Co. of NV stationary signed by Morgan L. Ogden, Sec of Company in NY office. Ogden writes Allen Curtis, Superintendent of the mine in Nevada, about a claim the company has made for six silver bars stolen from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The letter discusses the ingots in detail. Letters discussing stagecoach robberies, particularly that of ingots are exceptionally rare. Very Fine. $1,500. Sold
713. Austin. Assay Office of the New York & Reese River Mining Company, Austin, NV 8-Jun 1866
No. 84 Memorandum of bullion assayed for Manhattan Mining Co. This assay certificate is another of the Extremely Rare R8 certificates. The certificate number (84) might indicate this receipt was for one of the first bullion bars handled by the company. The New York and Reese River Mining Co. was probably absorbed by the Manhattan Mining Co. within a year of this certificate. Very Fine. $750. Sold
Beatty
714. Beatty. Early Panorama Photograph 1907
Original photograph by the California Panorama Co. of Los Angeles, taken from a hillside above the town in its earliest days. Shows rail tracks running through the town with a steam engine moving along, as well as the dirt highway into and out of town, and numerous tent buildings scattered among wooden structures. Detail is good. Founded two years after the big silver discovery at Tonopah, Nevada just after the turn of the 20th Century. Beatty was the supply hub for the Bullfrog Mining district. While Bullfrog and Rhyolite have become ghost towns, Beatty survived in part because it sits above the mostly underground Amargosa River and because it serves as the gateway to Death Valley. Photo measures 9 ¾” tall x 67” long. Numerous vertical fold creases, foxing at top left, no tears. . $1,400.
Buena Vista (Unionville)
The Bateman Ingot By Fred N. Holabird
This incredibly ornate silver ingot came to light in the J. J. Ford Collection when it was sold in October, 2007. It is certainly the most beautifully engraved ingot from a Nevada source known today.
The ingot represents an important time in western mining and Nevada history. It was given by “mutual friends” to Abraham G. Bateman, owner of the only hotel in Buena Vista, an early name for Unionville.[1] Bateman was a young man of 27 years when this ingot was given to him.[2] He was born in rural Pennsylvania about 1833 to parents of German origin. He probably came west at the tail end of the California Gold Rush, or perhaps specifically to Nevada at the onset of the Comstock and other silver rushes, including Unionville.
Bateman sold his hotel in Buena Vista within two years and moved on to another mining camp.[3] He probably wandered about for several years, since he did not register in any US Census except 1880, when he resided in Alameda, California, listing his occupation as mine owner.
Bateman quite possibly lent money to the men who staked a claim called the Sargent Ledge. The ingot carries their name, the Ferguson Company. This was known as a “grubstake” and was a very common practice at the time. One form of lending was in trade for goods or services, and Bateman may have provided a room at his hotel in exchange for a share of the mine. On Christmas day, December 25, 1862, the mine owners gave this ingot to Bateman in appreciation. The nomenclature used on the ingot “Buena Vista” here did not refer to the mining district of the same name, though that is where this small mining town was located, rather it refers to the town itself where Bateman had his hotel.
The Ferguson Company may have consisted of several Ferguson brothers who were residing in Virginia City at the time, according to the 1862 Territorial Census. W. N. Ferguson was foreman of the Poorman G&S MC. J. A. Ferguson was bartender at the Nevada Saloon. The Ferguson group was still active, reporting “rich assays” on the discovery of the Miami Ledge in May, 1863. Ferguson & Wilson submitted samples of the Miami ore to assayer F. W. Blake in Unionville that yielded $1340.86 to $4786.74 per ton.[4]
The Sargent Lode was located centrally in the Buena Vista mining district, and was among the first claims staked in 1861. It was next door to the Manitowoc, one of the initial claims staked by the discoverers of the district, led by H. Pfersdorff. Within a year of its discovery, a public company of the same name was formed. In May, 1863, the fist meeting of the shareholders of the Sargent Gold and Silver Mining Company was held in Unionville. Pfersdorff was the corporate secretary.[5] The mine and lode was named after Aaron A. Sargent, a California congressman, who led the effort in “procuring the annulment in the Corporation Act of Nevada Territory.” An active mining man, he gained tremendous “popularity among Washoeites,” according to an article in the Humboldt Register.[6]
The mines at Unionville were possibly discovered as early as 1859, according to the 1863 Territorial Directory, perhaps the result of prospecting on the heels of Pacific Railroad exploration. The first claims were staked in 1861. The mining camps did not spring up until 1861, when the rush was on over reported high grade silver ores. Towns were built and settled by the summer of 1862, when “there were probably 100 houses erected in three months.”[7] “This is without a doubt the richest mineral district yet discovered in Nevada Territory”, wrote J. Wells Kelly, the author of the 1863 Territorial Directory.[8] The area was exceptionally remote, and getting to and from the mining districts was problematic. It was in the middle of Shoshone and Paiute Indian country, and the Indians did not take kindly to the invasion of their territory by whites.
One of the early claim stakers at Unionville in 1861-1862 was none other than Sam Clemens (Mark Twain), who arrived there in the winter of 1861 and staked several claims and wrote about the adventure in Roughing It. One of his partners was Billy Claggett, who stayed in Unionville for several years, acting as a mine man and attorney. Bateman and the Fergusons would have known Claggett.
The Sargent mine, meanwhile, may have been purchased by the Minitowok. All through 1863, the mine was shipping silver bullion. “The rock has yielded $400 per ton on an average,” reported a writer for the Mining and Scientific Press.[9]
F. W. Schultze, who engraved this ingot, was an engraver in Virginia City. He went there in late 1862, just missing the canvasing for the 1862 Territorial Directory. The ingot was probably made by Assayer Leopold Kuh or E. Ruhling, the two prominent assayers in Virginia City at the time. Schultze’s office was originally at E Street and Taylor, then moved to a much more prominent position of 114 South C Street by the mid 1860’s. By about 1870, Schultze had left the Comstock.[10] Tom Troy may have taken over the business, though he moved to Gold Hill a year later and went into the printing business, an eventual business progression for many engravers. Schultz never surfaced in any US or foreign Census, before or after the Comstock.
715. Buena Vista (Unionville). F.W. Schultz & Son Silver Presentation Plaque, NV Territory 25-Dec 1862
Photo Courtesy of Stack’s, Lot 3542, John J. Ford, Jr. Collection Part XX & XXI, October 2007 Sale.
This plaque is Very Fine. It has scroll work broken from the top left and is a bright silver color. The piece is engraved by hand with Schultz' signature on the back. There were no punches used in making the plaque. The face reads, “Presented / to / A. BATEMAN. / by / mutual friends / taken from the / SARGENT LEDGE / FERGUESON CO / BUENA VISTA DEC.25th. 1862.” The reverse reads, “F.W. Schultz e. fil. / VIRGINIA CITY.” It measures 54.2 x 43.3 x 5.3 mm and weighs 93.45 gms. From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection. $42,500.
716. Candelaria. Miners’ Union Letter. 21-Feb 1892
This is a four page, handwritten letter regarding a stop work order on the Mt. Diablo Mine inCandelaria, Nevada. There is an endorsed seal from the Candelaria Miners’ Union at the top of the first page. Very Rare, but in Poor condition. No Photograph. $350.
Carrara
717. Carrara of America Broadside and Carrara Obelisk Printing Co. Envelope, Nye County, NV c 1913
This is a 1913 Carrara of America Broadside with a beautiful picture in excellent condition. The caption reads: “Mountains of the finest MARBLE that the world produces. The color photograph shows how the three mountains of marble owned by The American Carrara Marble Company, are composed of strata after strata of different colored marble. Each strata being ten feet or more in thickness, and standing in height from the base to the top of the mountain and being three miles in length. There are more than twenty-five separate and distinct stratas, each being a different color. There are more varieties of color in this one deposit of marble than are produced by all other American quarries combined. The railroad seen in the picture is a Gravity Tram Railway, built and owned by The American Carrara Marble Company.” The Obelisk was a newspaper distributed there from 1914-1916. The second piece is a Carrara Obelisk Printing Company envelope. The broadside is in Extremely Fine condition and the cover is About Good. $1,500.