1834

Virginia City,NV - Storey County - c1870-85 - Conrad Wiegand Silver Watch Fob Ingot :

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Bullion Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Virginia City,NV - Storey County - c1870-85 - Conrad Wiegand Silver Watch Fob Ingot :
Front reads: OZ 050 / G57 / S932 (FINE written long ways) / $1.19; Side reads: C. WIEGAND / ASSAYER. Measures: 25mm x 12mm x 6mm. Wiegand was a notorious assayer, who got his start at the U.S. Mint in San Francisco. His behavior was so disruptive, and his assays of questionable quality (they often did not check or agree), that a mint employee once wrote to President Lincoln asking for his dismissal. Mark Twain describes Wiegand at length in Roughing It. Wiegand stayed at the Branch Mint through the early 1860s, before working for Gould & Curry mill in Virginia City, Nevada, around 1866-67. Wiegand started his own assay office in Virginia City and for a brief time expanded his business to two office, the other located in Gold Hill. Most of the surviving Wiegand ingots are relatively small and carry the familiar bullion gang punch of his name in small letters. This ingot has a fancy engraved border, typical of some of his presentation ingots.