1371

Goldfield,NV - Esmeralda County - High Grade Gold Man's Ring :

Currency:USD Category:Jewelry Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Goldfield,NV - Esmeralda County - High Grade Gold Man's Ring :
A large-size man's gold ring with a cabochon cut stone in the center, and worn scrolled designs in the band next to the stone. On the inner side is stamped 18k. The stone at center is native gold in quartz and country rock. This well worn men's ring is an important keepsake of a Goldfield pioneer. Because of the nature of the gold specimen in the ring, combined with the wear on the ring, it might be surmised that it was worn by one of the owners of one of Goldfield's key mines, such as the Mohawk or the Florence. Unfortunately, the owner did not have his initials engraved on the inside, so we'll never know. This ring and the other man's gold ring from Tonopah that is in this sale are two very rare pieces that have matching mates from Nome and Dawson. Fred Holabird suspects all four were made by Frank Golden. They appear to date from 1898-1905. According to Davis' History of Nevada, 1912, Golden was a Virginia City jeweler (born in Ireland in 1862), who became interested in mining and "made a fortune." He had stores in Carson City, Reno and Virginia City, and had a branch in Goldfield during the boom, according to the Polk 1907 Directory. In 1901 there was a merchant in Dawson City by the name of "F Golden," which may have been him or one of his staff. The 1901 Alaska/Yukon Directory does not state the nature of the business, nor do any of the biographies state how and where he made the fortune in mining. The ring is part of the Woodward collection, all in this sale, a collection assembled over a lifetime from a family whose property ownership goes back to the Bonanza Days.