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Hale & Norcross SMC Check, Leopold Kuh, Virginia City 1867 [173804]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
Hale & Norcross SMC Check, Leopold Kuh, Virginia City  1867  [173804]

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Very rare! Dateline Virginia, Nev., March 2nd, 1867. No. 1390. Pay $24 to L. Kuh. Signed by C.C. Thomas as superintendent. Orange Nevada and US IR stamps attached at left. Not endorsed. Folds and cut cancel. L(eopold) Kuh was a well-known assayer in Virginia City during the 1860’s. Kuh was born in Hungary in 1817. He came to California during the Gold Rush and got his start at the San Francisco Mint about 1856. By 1859, he had his own gold refinery in partnership with Henry Fisher, which grew to a three person partnership the next year known as Kuh & Co. Early shipments of Comstock ore were sent to San Francisco in the fall and winter of 1859 and into 1860. The ores were so rich that most mining men fled to the Comstock and created the “Rush to Washoe.” Kuh followed suit. He was hired by one of the Comstock mining companies in 1861, and went to work for the Central Mining Co. The Central's two claims were right next to the Ophir claim, along with the Kinney claim. These three claims later became known as the California Mine, which went on to be the largest producer on the Comstock, at $64.6 million through 1905. While there, Kuh learned and refined milling and metallurgical practices to extract the Comstock gold and silver ores. In 1863, Kuh struck out on his own, opening an independent assay office and metallurgical consulting firm, and located his office located near the Ophir Mine’s office. Kuh kept an active office in Virginia City until 1869, when he returned to San Francisco, where he worked until he died in 1886. C.C. Thomas went on to become the superintendent of the Sutro Tunnel Company. Virginia City Nevada