Reno, NV, USA, July 7, 2023 — Five 19th century gold and silver ingots from the Gold Rush and Silver Rush sold for a combined $159,807 at a huge, four-day High-Grade Auction held June 15th thru 18th by Holabird Western Americana Collections, online and live in the gallery at 3555 Airway Drive (Suite 308) in Reno. The sale featured nearly 2,000 lots of mining collectibles, railroadiana, numismatics, Native and general Americana, philatelic, bottles, stocks, bonds, sports and art.
But it was the ingots (blocks of steel, gold, silver, or other metal, typically oblong in shape) that captured the attention of bidders. The top achiever was an 1880 Mathey, Kustel & Riotte silver ingot, which stood out from the others in terms of documented information, provenance and history surrounding the assayers whose names were on it. It is the only known example from Mathey, Kustel & Riotte and carried their logo punch and weighed 4.97 troy ounces ($42,175).
A close second was the 1883 Peck Mine silver ingot from Prescott, in the Arizona Territory, George Ralph assayer. The mine was discovered by Ed Peck in 1875. The ingot, trapezoidal in shape, was 4.52 troy ounces of silver fine 990 ($38,560). An important rectangular silver ingot made by Edward Ruhling and engraved by Nye & Company of Virginia City, Nevada in 1869 for William Sharon, the infamous King of the Comstock, weighing 4.90 troy ounces, hit $37,500.
A post-1890 silver and gold ingot from the Gould & Curry Silver Mining Company in Virginia City (“14.85 oz, .0285 fine gold, value $8.74; 963 fine silver, value $18.58”), showing the G & C bullion punch, found a new owner for $23,497; while a Conrad Weigand silver-gold ingot, No. 7091, 4.40 ounces of .558 fine silver and .0155 fine gold, different from other Conrad Weigand ingots and a classic dore bar from a silver-gold deposit (plus probably copper), made $18,075.
To learn more about Holabird Western Americana Collections and their calendar of events, visit www.holabirdamericana.com.
