3.90 oz Richard Euler, Assayer. Silver City, Idaho. Silver and gold assay ingot number 1950, May 20, 1883.
Appearance of Very Fine. A very well executed ingot with polished faces and sides, sharp edges, squared off corners. There is one large and disfiguring flaw on the face and a few smaller ones elsewhere. One wonders why Mr. McGregor didn’t tell Euler to do the bar over, especially as it was a gift for his wife. This is a fairly late dated ingot from Silver City. By the early 1880s, Silver City was connected to the wider world not only by stage and telegraph, but also by telephone service. Just seven years after the date on this bar, the town of around 2,500 inhabitants was electrified.
Despite the disfiguring flaw on the face of this bar, the piece has all the earmarks of a typical presentation ingot made by an assayer: the assayer’s name on one face, the metallic content and values on the other, a presentation inscription around the edge. This bar was, in other words, just like one of the large standard ingots made by a mine’s refinery only in much smaller size and with an inscription marking the ingot’s purpose. The assayer’s name and occupation appear to be in logotype, the location punch also seems to be in logotype, and it is possible that both were part of one larger, single logotype. The presentation inscription on this bar can be shown through the identity of the “S” and “G” punches to have been made by the same punches that made the weight, fineness, and value inscriptions. It is likely, therefore, that this is a bar whose presentation inscription was also effected by the assayer who made the bar it was punched on.
- Face: RICHARD EULER / ASSAYER / SILVER CITY, IDAHO.
- Back: NO 1950 / OZ 3.90 / G_30 F / S.898 F / G.$ 2.41 / S.$ 4.52.
- Top side: FROM HER HUSBAND.
- Bottom side: MRS. M. MC GREGOR.
- Left side: 1883.
- Right side: MAY 20TH.
- Dimensions: 53.2 x 24.1 x 9.3 mm.
- Current weight: 122.5 gms.
From the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection
Provenance: Ex Dr. Benjamin Qurtz, Hartford, Connecticut, on July 7, 1965.
[10/2007] https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-AV6LV/richard-euler-assayer-silver-city-idaho-silver-and-gold-assay-ingot-number-1950-may-20-1883 ($23,000)