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Silver Ingot From the Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction Company of Colorado City, Colorado. Cripple Cr

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:NA Estimated At:112.00 - 150.00 USD
Silver Ingot From the Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction Company of Colorado City, Colorado. Cripple Cr
Silver Ingot From the Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction Company of Colorado City, Colorado. Cripple Creek is about 25 miles west of Pike's Peak, in Central Colorado. Before the big gold rush, the area was used graze livestock by a few homesteaders. Cripple Creek got its name from drovers when a frightened calf jumped over a fence, landed in a gully and broke its leg. A man named Bob Womack was one of the settlers in this area. He was basically a cowboy but he did some prospecting on the side. In 1874, he found some promising rock. On a whim he sent it to Denver to be assayed. It turned out to be $200 worth of gold per ton. He named the area where he found the rock Poverty Gulch. He spent the next 16 years before he found anything else of value. All his friends joked him about his so-called gold mine, but he took it good-naturedly. Finally a man named Dr. John P. Grannis, a dentist, staked Bob some money. He would get one-half interest of anything Bob found. One day in the fall of 1890, Bob found a one-half inch streak of pale yellow rock. He thought it looked promising. He wrote down his name and the date, October 20, 1890, on a board and nailed it to a stake. Then he took some specimens into Colorado Springs to be assayed. Professor Henry Lamb estimated the ore at $250 per ton. Womack put the chunks of gold into a furniture store window, hoping to attract investors. It worked, and soon thereafter, the Cripple Creek area became a major gold producing region. One of the successful individuals in the Cripple Creek area was Charlie Tutt who got a grubstake and located the C.O.D. Mine. Tutt did well when a French company bought the C.O.D. mine for $250,000. In December 1895, Charlie Tutt, Charlie McNeill, and Spec Penrose formed the Colorado, Philadelphia Reduction Company and pretty much dominated that business for awhile. Penrose would later go on to build the first auto road up to the top of Pike's Peak. The Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction company began operations in 1896, and was taken over by the U.S. Reduction and Refining company in 1904. Operations ceased in 1912, and the buildings were torn down, except the office and storerooms, both of which were brick. This is a rectangular ingot from this long-forgotten Colorado mine. The name of the company and its location are stamped on one side in elaborate circa 1890s lettering, and the other side has the name J.A. Hayes stamped on it (Hayes presumably being the assayer). The sides are blank and no fineness or weight is given. The ingot measures 93mm x 32mm x 18 mm and weighs 571 grams. This may possibly be the only tangible remnant other than the brick office and storerooms of the Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction Company. Of great interest (and value) to collectors of Western Americana. Important notice: We expect to be auctioning lots at the rate of 200-250 per hour. Sometimes eBay Premier live bid software cannot keep up with that pace, so we strongly recommend that you place a realistic proxy bid now as insurance to avoid disappointment. Also please note that all Heritage/CAA lots purchased through eBay Premier carry a 20% Buyer's Premium. Please make sure you read the Terms and Conditions.