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Virginia City,NV - Storey County - May 29, 1865 - Van Wyck & Co Assay Receipts :

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Documents Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
Virginia City,NV - Storey County - May 29, 1865 - Van Wyck & Co Assay Receipts :
Lot of two. First is a memorandum of Assay of Bullion number 2460 & 61 deposited at the Assay Office of Van Wyck & Co by the Savage Mining company May 29, 1865. It measures 13 1/2” x 5”. Specimens 2460 and 2461 had a combined weight before melting of 488.40 ounces and 486.25 after melting and were valued at $651.96. It is unsigned and has a blank reverse. Second, a receipt of deposit of bullion. This receipt indicated that Savage Mining Company deposited “Eleven Hundred and Fifty-Seven ounces of bullion for smelting and assaying.” There is Van Wyck frank on the left side and it is singed on the bottom right by Van Wyck & Co. There is missing bottom left corner. Both items are in good condition. Sidney Van Wyck was a native of Baltimore born in 1830. As a young man he travelled to San Francisco and began work in a gold refinery. Van Wyck moved to Esmeralda County, NV where set up possibly the first assaying firm there. Van Wyck was the principal in the firm Van Wyck and Winchester, which later became Van Wyck and Sanchez. By 1864, he had moved to Virginia City where he set up another assay office. The next year Van Wyck and Sanchez set up an office in Gold Hill. The Virginia City office was shortly closed and all efforts were focused on the Gold Hill office. Around 1867, Van Wyck and Sanchez sold the Gold Hill office, relocated to San Francisco and embarked when news of the Hamilton Silver Rush. Van Wyck resided in Hamilton for several years. In 1873 Van Wyck moved back to San Francisco yet again where he worked as an accountant and then as bullion clerk for the Nevada Bank of San Francisco. However, after 4 years he returned to the assay business. He died April 27, 1887.