Only one of its kind know to exist, mining presentation ingot dated September 30, 1879 From Leopard Mining Company out of Cornucopia Nevada.
According to Thompson and West (1881, p. 393), silver ores were discovered and the district was organized in 1872. “The excitement incident to the discovery of the district caused the building of the town of Cornucopia, which at one time, in 1874, was quite lively and contained about 1,000 inhabitants.” The Leopard Mining Company built “first a 10-stamp mile which was consumed by fire and replaced by a twenty-stamp mill which was likewise destroyed in 1880, whereupon the population dwindled to 174. No production has been reported since 1882 except from 10,000 tons of old mill tailings during 1937-40 (table 15). There are two principal mines in the district, the Leopard (Cornucopia) which was* the larger, and the Panther. The Leopard shaft was said to be 5OO ft deep, but the deep workings are caved (Emmons, 1910, p. 62). The Leopard vein was worked extensively in an area now covered by mine dumps (Coats, 1967, p. 3).
104.04 oz, Leopard Mining Company, Sept 30 1879, Cornucopia Nevada, No 75
This is one of the larger known surviving ingots, and surfaced from a collector in 2019. It was
The Leopard Mining Company was established November 19, 1874.
The underside of the ingot is crude and unassuming.
On the main side, the name of the company can be seen with the primary stamp and location.
The other side of the ingot has been polished for presentation and engraving. It reads: “To N & R Grunhanm; VIENNA; From Henry & Brunhard; San Francisco; Sept 30th, 1879”.
A very unique and hefty piece that has not been to public auction that we know of.
Above, is an example of a stock certificate from the Loepard Mining Company from the Cornucopia District, Elko County Nevada. It was issued in San Francisco. The ingot was possibly given as a memento to a large shareholder in the enterprise, though we can only hazard a guess at this time and further research is needed to uncover the identities of the names inscribed.