2218

Dakota Territory. Deadwood. Stephen F. Molitor. American Tin Mining Co. Tin Ingot. About 1 3/8” x ½”

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Ingots Start Price:2,350.00 USD Estimated At:7,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Dakota Territory. Deadwood. Stephen F. Molitor. American Tin Mining Co. Tin Ingot. About 1 3/8” x ½”
SOLD
3,700.00USD+ (647.50) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2017 Sep 15 @ 23:54UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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This deep slate-grey ingot is rectangular in shape with a large test wedge taken from the upper left corner of the face. Face: S.F. MOLITOR / ASSAYER / DEADWOOD, D.T. Back: AMERICAN / TIN MINING CO.; the ends and sides are blank. One of just three S.F. Molitor tin ingots known, and incredibly important as such, especially to an ingot aficionado. John Ford’s Collection held but a single tin ingot from this firm, which is not taking anything away from the magnificent Ford holdings – quite the contrary, as it offers a peek into the true rarity of the present tin ingot. If anyone could have found multiple pieces, it would almost certainly have been Ford. The present rarity is from the Kagin Reference Collections, No. 418, and comes housed in a green leatherette box, custom-made to house the piece. Art Kagin Rare – we needn’t say more.
Stephen F. Molitor was born in 1833 in Hungary and came to America as a young man with his father, A.P. Molitor of Wass, Molitor & Co. fame, where he almost immediately became caught up in the happenings of the Gold Rush. S.F. Molitor, assayer, was located for decades in San Francisco, though at various addresses, and was listed in Langley’s San Francisco Directory for the Year nearly continuously from 1858 through 1869. By 1870, S. Molitor had relocated to Montana Territory, where he was first listed in the 1870 Ninth Federal Census, Helena, Montana Territory, Louis and Clark County as an assayer with a net wealth of $3,000. He was listed in the Pacific Coast Directory for 1871-1873 at 43 Main Street, Helena. In 1884-1885, he relocated to Tinton, Dakota Territory, where he formed the American Tin Mining Company and acted as assayer. By 1893 the boom in tin had subsided, and the assaying career of S.F. Molitor was ended as far as we know.