EBERHARDT & AURORA MINING CO.
Eberhardt or Virginia City, Nevada
The Eberhardt & Aurora Mining Company was an English firm established from London with the intent of mining silver from the White Pine district in Hamilton
County, Nevada. The firm bought the interests of the Eberhardt mining group, formed by Captain Frank Drake and others, that had been exploiting the residual silver bearing ores in the old “Hidden Treasure” diggings on the
main part of White Pine Mountain. By 1870 it was not yielding as much as it had been just five years earlier, when its owners had turned down an offer of $4 million for it.
Most of the Eberhardt’s ore was found at or near the surface and the company was forced to the expense of running a tunnel ever deeper in hopes of finding another jackpot. The Aurora Mine was another nearly played out
property. The newly formed Eberhardt & Aurora Mining Company hired Frank Drake as its superintendent and Thomas Phillpotts as its mining surveyor and claim scout. The company headquarters was located in Eberhardt,
at the foot of Treasure Hill. Its financial and operating papers are in the William Miles Read Papers in the Bancroft Library. The history of the firm can be read in W.T. Jackson’s Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Camp.
11.87 oz F.H. Bousfield. Eberhardt or Virginia City, Nevada. Silver assay ingot number 10, September, 1870.
Overall appearance of Very Fine. Clearly, this is a presentation piece that was rubbed and polished over the years. It is a pale silver in color with some areas bright from buffing. The surfaces were smoothed before the bar was engraved but many small flaws were left showing and the cooling depression on the back was not entirely polished away. The edges and corners are finished but not sharp. There are no disfiguring marks.
The bar was first offered for sale in Wallis & Wallis’ sale of arms and armour on June 22, 1972. Mr. Ford wrote to Edward Baldwin of A.H. Baldwin & Sons, Ltd. five days before the sale describing the ingot, why he felt it was genuine, and concluding “I WANT this lot [underlined]. The problem is to get it at a reasonable price. Since no one probably knows very much about it, on either side of the ocean, it should go in the £100 range. Bid up to £550 for it, for me [underlined]. 10% more would not hurt.” Mr. Ford’s informational card notes “This ingot appeared as Lot 1897 in Wallis & Wallis’, Lewes, Sussex, England 185th sale, Arms & Armour, June 22, 1972. Purchased on floor by Baldwin’s for [price in code] against book bid of R.C. Romanella of [price in code].” Mr. Ford was so happy at getting the ingot at £270 that he paid Baldwin’s an additional commission for their assistance.
There is a mystery about the assayer’s name on this ingot. W.S. Bousfield is listed in the 1870 Nevada census but F.H. Bousfield does not appear in any Nevada census consulted. Holabird & Kagin sold an ingot in their Fall, 2006 offering (item 75) crudely stamped WCB. & Co. that they identified as W.C. Bousfield’s.
Mr. Ford’s F.H. Bousfield ingot is a presentation piece with an English provenance. Yet, it must have been made in Nevada. The ingot clearly bears further research.
- Face: No. 10 / F.H. BOUSFIELD [scales] ASSAYER [in an oval logotype punch] / OZ 11.87 / 990 FINE / $15.19.
- Back: blank.
- Top side: SEP 1870.
- Bottom side: blank.
- Left side: T.PHILLPOTTS / TO I.S. HODGSON.
- Right side: EBERHARDT & AURORA M.Co / NEVADA.U.S.
- Dimensions: 66.4 x 34.0 x 15.6 mm.
- Stated weight: 11.87 ozs.
From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection
Provenance: Ex Wallis & Wallis’ sale of June 22, 1972, lot 1897 via A.H. Baldwin & Sons, Ltd. Mr. Ford’s informational card, correspondence, copy of the original sales description, and photographs accompany the lot.
[10/2007] https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-AV6LP/fh-bousfield-eberhardt-or-virginia-city-nevada-silver-assay-ingot-number-10-september-1870 ($17,250)
4.84 Oz F.H. Bousfield. Silver assay ingot, No 32, S 995F, Face Value: $6.22
A second ingot, with very worn and rough complexion. Very Fine.
Similar obverse layout to the first ingot above although unpolished and severely marked.
2.5 oz WCB & Co. Silver Ingot. William C. Bousfield & Co.
William C. Bousfield & Co., Virginia City, Nevada, ca. 1867. This small 2.50 ounce silver ingot has been through the mill, with an assay chip sealed with Bousfield’s “B,” and a later drill hole to check the fineness. In this case, the bar has a low silver fineness of 543, and an about average Comstock gold fineness of 012. The other impurity may be copper, typical of the deep levels of the north-end Comstock mines, though the metal in this ingot could be from a prospect outside of the Comstock proper.
William Bousfield was born in England about 1843, according to census records. He appears to have opened his own assay lab sometime after March, 1867, which he had through 1871 or a little later. Bousfield had a tough job ahead of him when he opened up for business. In 1867 there were eight assay firms in Gold Hill and Virginia City, though Bousfield may have been working for one of them before he went out on his own. Little is known of Bousfield, as he is not mentioned in Angel or DeQuille. His partner (the “& Co.”) was Pembroke Murray, born in Alabama in 1832, and was a merchant in Yreka, California in 1860, according to census records. He was not found anywhere in America in the 1870 or 1880 census records. He may have been a silent partner to Bousfield.
From The Kagin Reference Collection of Frontier Ingots.
[08/2006] https://coins.ha.com/itm/ingots/wcb-and-co-silver-ingot-william-c-bousfield-and-co-virginia-city-nevada-ca-1867-this-small-250-ounce-silver-ingot-has/a/414-2569.s ($6,300)
[08/2006] https://www.icollector.com/WCB-Co-Silver-Ingot-William-C-Bousfield-Co-Vir_i5816080