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1890 Otto Mears Silverton Railroad Pass Souvenir Spoon, CO - Silverton,San Juan County

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Railroadiana, Trains Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
1890 Otto Mears Silverton Railroad Pass Souvenir Spoon, CO - Silverton,San Juan County
IMPORTANT NOTE ON BUYERS PREMIUMS:

Lot 100 to 343 have a premium of 15%.

The rest of the sale is 19.5% as noted in the listing.

Lot Pick Up: Holabird-Kagin Americana,
3555 Airway Drive Ste #309,
Reno NV 89511,
Sunday - December 9, 10am-4pm
1890 - This 5.75" long, high-luster sterling silver spoon is ornately detailed to commemorate the "Rainbow Route". Embossed and debossed details feature prominently along all faces of the spoon. The top-handle shows a bust of Otto Mears, the builder and President of the Silverton Railroad of Colorado. The handle, front and back, features railroad tracks, a switch stand, trees, a small steam engine, and an iconic tunnel. The bowl is exceptional, and shows a scene of tracks with evergreen trees in the fore and rear, backed by majestic mountains, clouds, and a rainbow--a scene very similar to that on the Silverton 1890 watch fob. Otto Mears, 1840-1931, certainly wasn`t born with a silver spoon like this in his mouth. The son of an English father and Russian mother, Mears was orphaned at an early age and lived briefly with the family of his maternal uncle until moving to England when he was 11 years old. Soon, he was sent to New York to live with another relative, but this arrangement lasted only a year before being sent to San Francisco. By the time he arrived in the City, his uncle had left for Australia, leaving Otto to be raised by a woman he befriended on the ship over from New York. He enlisted in the California Volunteers in August of 1861, served for 3 years, and then started his own general stores in Santa Fe, Conejos, and Saguache. As a burgeoning civic leader, it was in the late 1860s that he became involved in Colorado politics and the transportation industry. In 1887, when he was 47 years old, Mears founded the famous Silverton Railroad. This particular spoon is one of only 2 known to exist, and was purportedly given by Mears as a gift during a fancy dinner to celebrate the completion of his Silverton Railroad [Ref: The Remarkable Railroad Passes of Otto Mears, Strong, 1988]. This spoon is utterly fantastic and rare. See Lot 822 for the Otto Mears Silverton Railroad Pass. -62052