SOLD
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This item SOLD at 2017 Sep 16 @ 00:03UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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From our 3/11 HKA auction described as:
“Large presentation ingot for a celebration honoring William Sharon "by his old friends of the Comstock Lode,” 1876. This ingot was made for all-out surprise celebration for Sharon and his friends. This ingot is blank where the others we have seen have the attendees name engraved at the bottom of the obverse of the ingot. Nineteen of these ingots were reportedly made for each of the attendees and a 20th for William Sharon. 6.13 Troy ounces. Approximately 6.25” X 4” and 1+ mm thick.
The Story
The party was at the Palace Hotel, built by Sharon`s old boss, William Chapman Ralston. Ralston had committed suicide several months earlier after the Bank of California`s failure in 1875. It was at one time the largest and most powerful bank in the United States. The Bank had made it through the failure with the help of Sharon and friends. Reports said the affair had all the accoutrements of an inaugural ball but was exceptionally private. Flowers were everywhere. The Palace Hotel manager, Mr. Warren Leland, was told to spare no expense, according to an article that appeared in the "San Francisco Examiner" the next day. It reported:
"It is fair to presume that the grand dinner spread in honor of William Sharon, in the Palace Hotel, on Tuesday Evening, has never been equaled in good taste or elegant surroundings on this continent. An enthusiast might say that `it was fit for the gods` and it is doubtful whether there would be an exaggeration in such an assertion… No public announcement of the intended gathering was given, and Mr. Sharon was ignorant of the arrangements until he was escorted into the banquet hall."
The paper went on to report the attendees were all old friends of Sharon`s "long before he found the means to build up a fortune." Twenty men sat at a single table. D. O. Mills, sat at one end, and General John F. Miller, of the Alaska Commercial Company, sat at the other. Judge Heydenfeldt was seated at Miller`s left. Seated down the two sides were people who will be a familiar lot to those students of early Comstock history: Thomas Bell, William Lent, and W. Alvord, all part of the original Gould & Curry Company; William Morris Stewart, champion Comstock lawyer and later Senator; Wood A. Head and Bob Morrow, all early claim stakers on the Comstock from Nevada City and Grass Valley; J. Sahaw, J. Skae, both mine superintendents on the Comstock (Morrow was also supt. of the Savage); and G. S. Dodge, A. Gansl, A. Selover. Sta. Marina, D. L. Bliss and Steinhart. Apparently, while the men celebrated and told stories to one another, a band played nearby. There were no speeches; the party was a simple celebration of friendship in its grandest form.
The ingots were so exciting to the men and news media, that they were described in detail in the "Examiner". It reported that "At each plate were glasses for eight different kinds of wine. The napkins were folded flat, and on each was a delicate bouquet. Beneath the napkin was a bill of fare engraved on solid silver, dug from the Comstock lode, and highly polished. These measured about 6 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches… On the front of this novel and costly affair was inscribed in ornamental text and script…" words about the celebration and the menu fit for a king. An observer "laughingly remarked… Everybody went away from the dinner with a silver brick in his hat."
The silver ingot was the perfect gift for all the attendees. Nearly all the men were heavily involved in mining at one time. Most were on the Comstock at the beginning. A very fresh story would have been shared about silver ingots, told by Senator Wm. Morris Stewart. Stewart had headed a bunch of investors along with John P. Jones in the mines at Panamint, California. In 1875 they pulled out a million in silver, but were acutely aware of highwaymen just waiting for the bullion laden wagons to come down the treacherous canyons out of the Panamints. The mountains were so rugged, that there is about 6000 feet of relief in just over a mile of horizontal distance. Even the mighty Wells Fargo & Co. would not dare to establish an express office there for fear the risk of robbery was too high. Stewart related "They said they wouldn`t run any risks at Panamint, not with that bunch of highwaymen lying around just waiting to swoop down and gobble up every dollar in sight." Stewart needed a plan. He said, "Finally I hit on a scheme. I had some molds made in which a ball of solid silver could be run weighing 750 pounds. Then I began smelting the ore, and I ran out enormous cannon balls of the precious stuff that could have bombarded a battleship. When the road agents saw what I was doing, their eyes stuck out of their heads. They acted as though I had cheated them out of property… ." It was a very clever plan indeed.
There are many incidences surrounding William Sharon`s rise to power. Sharon was the manager of the Bank of California in Virginia City who had been handpicked by Ralston. He was a man who knew failure, and Ralston felt Sharon was not likely to want to fail again. Ralston told his Board that Sharon was the best poker player he had ever known. Ralston knew Sharon could beat any of the Board at any game of business they chose, so that`s why Ralston thought Sharon should head the Virginia City office. He would be the best manager of money and bank affairs they could every hope for.
There was a crash on mining stocks in May, 1872, which persisted until 1875. Another stock panic hit in August, 1875, which crushed the Bank of California, once considered "the strongest banking institution on the Pacific Coast." The great bonanzas of the Crown Point and others were only temporary fixes in a stock market that was wild with excitement and activity. There was a run on the Bank of California on August 26, 1875. They closed on the 26th. Ralston had surrendered the Palace Hotel, one of his jewels which was not yet finished, to Sharon on the 25th. He had absolute confidence in Sharon. George Lyman wrote in Ralston`s Ring, "They were closer than brothers". Ralston surrendered all of his personal property to the Bank for the benefit of the depositors. But he was deceived. That day, Ralston had not a friend, as the entire Board turned against him, and left the bank in resignation. He would never return. Mills was instructed to tell Ralston of his dismissal, which was done the next day. In the afternoon, he walked into the ocean and never came out alive. In the ensuing crash, the value of the mines of the Comstock shrunk to one thirtieth of their value that they had been on Jan 1, 1875. D. O. Mills, the first president of the Bank of California, when it was organized in 1864, became president once again, and secured the funding necessary for the Bank`s reopening, which was on October 2. Sharon was a huge asset, tying up loose ends in Nevada and San Francisco. The stock exchanges in San Francisco also closed because of financial panic, reopened on October 5. The Bank went on to great success and is alive today. Sharon also took over and managed Ralston`s estate for his widow and children.
Our consignor from the 3/11 sale inherited this ingot and mirror from her grandmother, who had been given it from a manager at the Palace Hotel, along with a matching ladies’ bathroom (toiletry) silver set of mirror, hair brush and comb. After the Sharon dinner had been completed and the guests had left the building, the hotel manager and several co-workers were given the left-over non-personalized ingots as a souvenir of their work for the hotel. The other two silver toiletry items in the family from the Palace were lost over time.
This story confirms what we thought long ago: that Schreve & Co. of San Francisco made extra ingots for the Sharon dinner in case any dignitaries were invited at the last minute. To date, three of the non-personalized ingots have shown up (including this piece), each with engraving exactly matching the personalized pieces.
The William Sharon Dinner Plate Ingot remains one of the most important keep-sakes of western business and politics, joining both the financial center of the West (San Francisco) and one of its political , banking and mining heavyweights, William Sharon.
Summary
This ingot is important not only because of its rarity and of its presentation value to William Sharon, but because of what it represents. It is a remnant of an important turning point in California financial history, recognizing the great mines of the Comstock, the great bankers of California, and the ingenuity of American financiers in general - all at once. There would have been sad discussion of Ralston`s tragedy, but happiness abounded at that dinner at the success of the Palace Hotel, just completed, and of Sharon`s election to the Senate over his bitter rival James G. Fair, one of the Comstock kings. They would have discussed the old times on the Comstock in 1859-60, and their luck in California during the Gold Rush.
Although this particular ingot is blank, it is unquestionably authentic because it is identical in every way to those I have seen previously (we`ve never published a detailed photograph of these ingots.)
Regardless of the lack of an engraved name, this ingot remains one of the great silver presentation pieces of the nineteenth century. It encompasses everything about the nineteenth century West – one of the great Comstock financiers and bankers, a celebration of mining in the West and the incredible splash that the wealthy used at the time. This is one of three in excellent condition known today that have changed hands publicly, though one of the three has a hole in it. It is a treasure whose appearance is not likely to be duplicated anytime soon. “
After spirited bidding, this artifact brought $16,450
Ex: HKA 3/16/11:2366
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Infinite |
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00_Sep2017_WCA_FrMatter.indd 11 8/25/17 7:41 PM
xii Kagin’s Auctions
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