WILLIAM SHARON DINNER SILVER INGOT Público Deposited
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The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 2, January 12, 2003, Article 13
WILLIAM SHARON DINNER SILVER INGOT
One standout exhibit at last year's ANA convention in
New York included a silver ingot made for a special dinner
in San Francisco in 1876 in honor of William Sharon,
a Nevada Senator and bank baron. Dealer Fred Holabird
published an article on newly discovered example of the
ingot in the Winter 2002 issue of The Brasher Bulletin,
newsletter of the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatics.The article contains a reference to Panamint Balls of silver,
which were discussed in the E-Sylum last November
(v4n47 and n48). From the article (and Holabird's web
site):"Senator Wm. Morris Stewart ... 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 are 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."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. "Finally I hit on a scheme. I had some moulds 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."
http://www.holabird.org/americana2002/archive/Auction11/ingots.htm- 2003-01-12
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