1.25 oz San Francisco,CA – 1887 – Silver Watch Fob Ingot
Obverse reads: San Francisco / 1887; Reverse is monogrammed with the initials “H. R. ” 1.25 Toz. Measures: 5/8″ x 1 1/8″ x .25″
This silver ingot was a personal keepsake of Horace Rantlett, a prominent California mining man. In 1887 his office was in the prestigious building at 420 Montgomery Street in San Francisco which housed so many mining professionals. That year, Rantlett had reopened the Newton Mine in Amador County.
The mine was discovered in the 1860’s and operated intermittently until Rantlett acquired it in 1886. After he reopened the mine, it became one of the most important copper mines in the County, and produced nearly continuously for at least the next two decades. The mine was located on the stage road between Jackson and Sutter Creek, now known as Highway 49, the famous Mother Lode highway. Rantlett was born in Massachusetts about 1842, and died at the mine in 1911 at the age of 69. He wore the ingot in the middle of his watch chain for all to see as a proud memento of a rich and famous mine that he reopened. (ref: San Francisco Directory 1887; Copper Resources of California by Lewis Aubury, 1908, pp 222-3.)
[10/2010] https://www.icollector.com/San-Francisco-CA-1887-Silver-Watch-Fob-Ingot_i9799271 ($2,400)