The Knights Templar held national gatherings in prominent cities every three years known as the Triennial Conclave. The 25th Triennial Conclave was held in Denver in August 1892 and attended by Knights Templar Commanderies from all over the United States. As the Silver Anniversary conclave, it took on much added significance.
The conclaves of the Knights Templar, as well as special gatherings of other fraternal organizations, often were great celebrations held in conjunction with a public parade. These parades featured the members in full formal regalia. The costumes of the Templars are among the most colorful and artistic of the many fraternal organizations. Their members, as well as those of other fraternal organizations, commonly took part in parades. At their triennial conclaves, the hosting venue created and presented unique special awards to the commandery drill team that presented the best “Exhibition Drill.” On this special 25th Conclave commemorating the “silver anniversary” of the American Conclaves, a special award was presented to the Chicago St. Bernard Commandery, Number 35, by the Denver Chamber of Commerce whose names are engraved on the ingot.
The beautiful scene of the Mount of the Holy Cross on the front face of the ingot is significant. The original Templars were formed by a group of nine Knights from the Champagne region of France in about 1119, formed to protect pilgrims traveling to and visiting Holy places. The growth of the organization, their political influence, power, rise and fall, have all been well chronicled in many scholarly works. The Templars are most well known for the banking system they initiated originally to safeguard property and money of pilgrims voyaging to the Holy Land. Their symbol was a Knight with a cross and a sword. The cross carried great symbolism, and as such, the cross of Mount Holy Cross became a symbol for the Templars within the United States.
The 25th Conclave held in Denver was destined to be special. Colorado was legend for its silver mines and this was the Templars silver anniversary. The Mount of Holy Cross, itself a natural symbol of the Holy Cross as well as a Templar emblem, is located in central Colorado near Leadville. It was thought to be first ascended by explorer Francis V. Hayden and famous Colorado photographer William H. Jackson in 1873, who were specifically exploring for a mountain with a “Holy Cross” on it that had been mentioned by several pioneers. Jackson captured this famous scene in a number of photographs, and the engraving on the ingot is taken from one of these photos. The “Holy Cross” on the mountain is a product of snow-filled, naturally occurring eroded faults and fractures in the north east face of the mountain. When Jackson photographed it, and sketches of his photographs were subsequently distributed to national press, it moved the nation. Celebrated landscape artist Thomas Moran visited the site a year later in 1874 and painted the scene, a famous painting today (held by the Maine Historical Society).
With the Conclave being held in Denver and the Templar’s tie to Mount Holy Cross, it was intuitive that the Denver elite would create a memorable commemorative presentation piece that would capture the importance of Denver and Colorado’s silver mining industry as well as the symbolism of the Knights Templar. An engraved silver ingot was perfect. With luck, it would endure the centuries. The Chamber of Commerce Committee probably secured the silver from its key mining member, Edward Eddy, General Manager of the largest smelter in Denver, the Omaha and Grant Smelting & Refining Co. The group arranged with one of the dozen or so Denver engravers to create the ornate scenes, vignettes and creative mastery that adorns the ingot today.
Throughout history, the Templars have shunned publicity, particularly on an individual basis– indeed, even in the written histories of Colorado, the name of the group is rarely mentioned; however, this event was well publicized in the Denver’s newspapers including the Rocky Mountain News as well as in the Chicago, Daily Inter Ocean, home of the St. Bernard Commandery, No. 35. The Knights were usually composed of the leading citizens in their community and although fairly secretive, their annual conclaves were quite public affairs, lavishly celebrated and accompanied with a generous amount of pomp and ceremony. The 25th Triennial Conclave was no exception and some 35,000 visitors arrived in Denver for the festivities (on the first day alone!) with perhaps a quarter of them being Knights representing every major city in the United States. Two hundred eastern trains arrived in one day carrying participants and visitors alike. A special contract carried out by the Denver Consolidated Electric Company illuminated miles of the Denver’s streets with colored stringers and powerful searchlights.
The St. Bernard Commandery drill team from Chicago, under the direction of Sir Adam Henry Johnson, gave an exhibition that outclassed their rivals. The Chicago drill team was so polished, that awards at the conclaves had been suspended because the Chicago Commandery always won. This created internal grumbling, but it was decided to once again open up the competition for the 25th conclave.
This was an event that was great for Denver’s businesses and the Denver Chamber of Commerce Committee was committed to its success making the event as a whole, especially the day of the parade as a “day to shine” for their Mountain city and one that the Knights Templar would never forget.
The Men of the Knights Templar Ingot
The presenting body of the ingot was made up of some of the most well known business men in Denver. The names of seven officers and directors of the Denver Chamber of Commerce Committee that presented the ingot are engraved on one end. When we look at history of the names of the group that are on the ingot, we understand why they were part of the Knights Templar. These men are all about their charity to humankind. Their own personal accomplishments cited below were difficult to locate, often rendered to pages of newspapers and select reference works. The classic biographical works on Colorado have little or nothing on any of these men.
The men of Denver as presenters of the Knights Templar Silver ingot:
W. R. Harp – Harp was a founder and superintendent of the Royal Gorge Smelting Co. located in Canon City founded in Jan. 1883. In 1895 he had moved to Leadville managing the Union Smelter and participated as the Grand Marshall of their Leadville Ice Palace Festival in January of 1896.
Edward Eddy – (1840-1896) Eddy, born in Cornwall England, was a professional mining man from the get-go. He graduated from the Kennsington School of Mines, worked in the mines of Cornwall, becoming an expert at the milling processes and in sampling techniques. He arrived in Georgetown, Colorado in 1871 and built what was reputed to be the first successful concentrating plant in Colorado. Eddy partnered with William H. James starting the Silver Plume Sampling and Concentrating Works.
After succeeding well at milling and sampling works in Georgetown, he ventured to Leadville, where he moved in 1878, setting up a sampling works (and mill?) by July, 1878. His business was so successful that he began buying up mines in Leadville, some with his friend and partner James, amassing a small fortune. At one time he and James were part owner of the Robert E. Lee mine, which they sold for $50,000, but it later sold for over $200,000.
In 1880, as production at Leadville boomed, he merged with James B. Grant’s smelting company, and the duo became one of the most powerful regional smelters. Eddy stayed with the new company as the General Manager of the Omaha and Grant Smelting and Refining Company, which was ultimately the largest smelter in Denver located where the Denver Coliseum stands today. This smelting company was one of the most successful in America, and became one of the original eleven principal companies purchased by the Guggenheim group in 1899 which became known as ASARCO. Later they merged with the James B. Grant’s Smelting business called the Grant Smelting Co. The company moved to Denver in 1882 from Leadville. It is most probable that Eddy supplied the silver for the ingot.
Eddy nearly didn’t make it long enough to supply the silver for this ingot. In November, 1879, he and four others needed to get to Leadville from South Park. The train was snowbound by a sudden severe storm, and the group decided to take the stage to Leadville over the mountains. About eleven miles from Leadville, everything changed. The snow was so difficult, that the stage broke over the edge of the road, tumbling down a steep mountainside, overturning several times, landing on its top. The horses ran off, but a doctor was onboard to address the wounds. One was killed. Eddy and the others survived, though several were reportedly in serious condition.
His smelter used a different technology to recover silver and lead than the two other Denver competitors, the Boston and Colorado smelters. Ore was transported from the mountains via the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad and the bullion shipped to Omaha via the Union Pacific Railroad. By 1886, the Omaha and Grant Company was a highly integrated firm with its own mines, sampling works, reduction plants, refinery and even a marketing department. In 1892, Denver’s largest smelter expanded, building a giant 350-foot chimney, the tallest structure in the region and a visible symbol of an industry considered vital to the region. This Denver landmark was finally demolished in 1950 to make way for the Denver Coliseum. He was one of the richest men in Colorado at the time of his death.
Edward Monash – A German who immigrated to the United States in 1865, Monash started out as a store clerk. After a number of moves and promotions, he settled in Denver in 1881 and was proprietor of the Dollar Store, a mercantile store. Later he was proprietor of the well known Denver store “The Fair”, the original department store in the city. The store was located on Sixteenth and Champa streets after 1887, where “The Fair” occupied a large ground space and four floors. An innovator in business practice, he built a mail-order trade that extended throughout Colorado. For years he was a member, as well as an officer, director and later President of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade. His civic duties were no less impressive. He was appointed as president of the board of Public Works in 1895, and Park Commissioner in 1897.
George Washington Cook – was Superintendent of the Colorado Midland Railroad and Mayor of Leadville from c1884-87. He had moved there in 1880 becoming the Superintendent of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. By 1884 he switched sides, and become agent for a competing rail line, the Colorado Midland Railroad. As Mayor of Leadville, Cook was present when the company built a short length of rail line after midnight on a day in the fall of 1884, over a patent owned by competitor Denver & Rio Grande, who had refused to sell a right of way. A group led by Cook built the line by morning starting five minutes after midnight -finishing by daylight, and the rail was then complete to Leadville. The Denver & Rio Grande fought in court, eventually winning a handsome settlement – but the rail was in, and the competition was “on”.
Cook moved to Denver in 1888 and became the general sales agent for the Colorado Fuel &. Iron Co., a major western mining company. Cook was active in the Denver Chamber of Commerce. He was very active in the Grand Army of the Republic for Colorado and Wyoming from the early 1890’s to well into the twentieth century. Cook was elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth Congress in 1907. A typical westerner and Coloradan, Cook was very active in mining ventures, and remained so the remainder of his life.
S. (Silas) M. Allen – In 1880 Allen was cashier for the Bank of Breckenridge in Colorado. Later he was manager of the Denver branch of R.G. Dun & Co., the mercantile credit reporting agency. In the early 1900’s he went on to be President of the Arkansas Valley State Bank in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
George W. Clark was a mining man in Denver and one of the first men to help organize the new Jefferson Territory. He was elected as Treasurer October 24, 1859.
Chas. (Charles) D. Cobb – (1844-1914) Cobb was a well known politician in Denver and ran a Fire Insurance business in Denver. The business covered Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico and was born of his days after being an Indian Trader at Fort Fetterman in Wyoming in the 1860’s. His need to protect and help people drove him to create this long lasting business.
Cobb was nominated by the Democratic party as its candidate for Mayor of Denver, but was defeated by William Scott Lee by a small margin. Cobb participated in the organization of the Commercial National Bank and became its Vice President. He was also the Grand Master of the IOOF, President of his Sunday School, an organizer of the Chamber of Commerce.
W. W. Anderson – Dr. W. W. Anderson was a perhaps the most well known physician in Denver. He attended Bat Masterson after he was shot in a barroom scuffle in October of 1886 and was known for attending and witnessing time of death at hangings.
470.5 Ounces – A Special Size Ingot, Dated 1892
Top Engraving: “Presented to St. Bernard Commandery No 35 Chicago for Efficiency and Exhibition Drill, Denver August 10, 1892.”
Side Engraving: “Chamber of Commerce Committee: W.R. Harp – Edward Eddy / E. Monash – Geo. W. Cook / S.M. Allen – Chas. D. Cobb / W.W. Anderson.”
The front engraved with a view of the Mountain of the Holy Cross.
The 470.5 troy ounce size of the ingot is significant in the history of the Templars. This number is reported historically as the exact number of years (470 years, six months) that the Temple of Solomon existed, from the time it was built to the time it burned and was destroyed. This number has been reported throughout history, particularly in William Whiston’s republishing of Flavius Josephus’ early work in 1854. Josephus, a Roman-Jewish historian (37-100AD) is known as the prime historian of the first century after Christ. Later scholars dispute the 470 year life of the Temple, and show it as 410 years or thereabouts, based on other evidence than that discussed by Josephus, who was a contemporary of Pliny the Elder (Natural History), who died at Pompeii, 79AD. The two probably never met.
The ingot is so heavy and important, that it was carried in the procession in Denver on a litter held by four Knights in full uniform. A caricature was drawn and published at the time showing the men in costume with the litter and ingot.
One of Two Ornately Engraved Colorado Silver Ingots. Only one other silver or gold ingot that we’ve observed has artistic renderings of American scenery, and that was also a Colorado silver ingot, the 1881 Lord-Drake ingot of Leadville, formerly of the famous Ford Collection. The sketch of Leadville on that ingot, also on the front panel, is much more crude, lacking the detail of a skilled artisan. It was engraved by Paul Lyon and Daniel G. Golding of Leadville, but their style of engraving is not at all consistent with the style of engraving on this Templars ingot. The Lord-Drake ingot weighs about 33 troy ounces, less than one tenth of the weight of this Knights Templar ingot. The provenance of this ingot comes from a private collection of Knights Templar material in New York. The entire collection was sold and disbursed in 2012.
This is the largest American nineteenth century silver ingot extant. Ornately engraved, it is a testament to the strength of American fraternal organizations who have charitably helped others. As the most ornate of all American silver ingots, as well as the largest, it is a magnificent piece that was hidden in a private collection for more than a century. The names of prominent Colorado mining, railroad and business men adorn the ingot as a permanent reminder of the great and rich history of Colorado pioneers.
This bar was also briefly featured in “Anatomy of an Ingot” by Paul Franklin, page 12, figure 3 as an example of a rare presentation ingot.
See: https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/americana-n08823/lot.56.html
[08/2012] https://www.icollector.com/St-Bernard-Silver-Anniversary-Ingot-CO-Denver-1892-2012aug-Numismatic_i13391229 ($103,965)