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Presentation Ingots of J. W. Grier (Wells, Fargo & Co.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:12,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
Presentation Ingots of J. W. Grier (Wells, Fargo & Co.
<B>Presentation Ingots of J. W. Grier (Wells, Fargo & Co. Agent) to Nora H. Grier with IRS stamp on reverse; and Small Presentation Ingot of Nora Grier (1869).</B></I> Silver City, Nevada. The tax stamp dates the larger ingot to 1863-1867. These two ingots are an important representation of early Comstock mining, made for a long-term Wells Fargo agent in Silver City, Nevada and his daughter, dating to the Civil War period, probably made by one of the well-known gold rush and Comstock assayers, Harvey Harris.<BR> John Wilson Grier was born in Guernsey County, Ohio in 1817. Grier came west before 1851, and was active in Nevada from the beginning, having arrived just after gold and silver were discovered in 1859. He was elected as one of the first County Commissioners of newly established Carson County in 1861, while Nevada was still part of Utah Territory, although locals had already begun to organize Nevada Territory. He was credited with co-founding and naming Washoe City in 1861, an important early Comstock ore milling site that housed 2,000 people by 1865 at its peak. Grier was elected to the Territorial Legislative Assembly in 1862, and that year was a partner in the Dayton and Desert Creek Toll Road.<BR> Known as "Uncle Johnny" to local Nevadans, Grier moved to Silver City in 1861 or early 1862 and was the first Wells Fargo agent for that portion of the Comstock, and remained so until 1885 when he died there. His wife, Sarah C. Grier, took over as Wells Fargo agent from 1890-1895, one of the few women Wells Fargo agents of the 19th century west.<BR> During Grier's tenure as a Wells Fargo agent in Silver City, he also served as a Commissioner of Deeds and a notary public. In 1864, Harvey Harris opened an assay office in Gold Hill, just up the road from Silver City, though within a year he moved the office down to Silver City, where he stayed for at least another fou