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Gold Quartz U.S. Grant Presentation Match Safe, 

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:16,000.00 USD Estimated At:16,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD
Gold Quartz U.S. Grant Presentation Match Safe, 

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Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
unmarked jeweler made, 14K gold safe, inscribed PRESENTED BY USG TO J.R. JONES 1869, one side inlaid with a panel of Nevada rose-colored gold quartz, the top of the safe with a panel of moss agate.

John Russell Jones (1823-1909), was a successful merchant and politician who was a close friend of U.S. Grant. Born in Conneaut, Ohio, he moved to Galena, Illinois, and by the age of 25, had established himself as a successful merchant. He was close friends with future Congressmen Elihu Washburne, and the then struggling Ulysses S. Grant. At the outbreak of the War, Jones seized upon the idea of sending embargoed cotton into the North, and with the help of his old friend Grant received the necessary importation passes. Huge profits followed. In 1869, when Grant was inaugurated President of the United States, Jones was nominated as Minister Resident of Belgium. He returned to the U.S. in 1875, when Grant appointed him Collector of the Port of Chicago. A year later as scandal and charges of cronyism overtook Grant, Jones was forced to resign, and the friendship was severed. Jones died in Chicago in 1886.

Accompanied by a file documenting the provenance of the safe.

Provenance:

Ulysses S. Grant to Joseph Russell Jones
Joseph Russell Jones to William Downing
William Downing by descent to his nephew William N. Brown
Brown to his son G. Elliot Brown
G.E.Brown to Thomas Gordon Brown
by Descent to Scott T. Brown. 

Condition: