3272

1867 Kuh Assay Sheet for Theall Deposit--Two Comstock Assayers--Virginia City, Nevada

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 600.00 USD
1867 Kuh Assay Sheet for Theall Deposit--Two Comstock Assayers--Virginia City, Nevada
SOLD
425.00USDto V********e+ buyer's premium (63.75)
This item SOLD at 2017 Oct 21 @ 12:10UTC-7 : PDT/MST
SHIPPING & HANDLING: Shipping and Handling cannot be estimated prior to invoicing, based on the size and weight of your purchase. All shipping is subject to a minimum charge of $19.00. If additional shipping and handling costs are required, the buyer will be reinvoiced for the balance due. Items are not shipped until the invoice is completely paid. Many buyers purchase a number of lots. Every effort will be made to include all lots in a single shipping charge calculated to cover the weight
Very rare assay sheet for the Assay Office of Leopold Kuh, located at Taylor Street, Corner of D Street. Kuh assay sheets are some of the rarer Comstock assay pieces. What makes this one even more special is that the deposit is from fellow Virginia City assayer Theall & Co. Why would an assayer be having a competitor handling his samples? This was called a "check sample." Very likely whomever Theall's original ore deposit was from (probably the Savage Mine), they wanted an outside check on his assay results. Theall was using Kuh to confirm his assaying. Four samples of crushed ore deposited April 15th, 1867. Signed at the bottom by Kuh. Folds. 10" x 7.5"

KUH BIO

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.


THEALL BIO (excerpted from Fred Holabird)

Nevada Assayer Hiram W. Theall is yet another important New Yorker who came to California for the Gold Rush. Though not associated, he joined the list of John L. Moffat, Augustus Humbert and a line of others who were New York merchants that left New York for the land of gold. Theall’s voyage to California was completely different than the others. He came west as a member of Stevenson’s Regiment for the Mexican War (Co. D, First Regiment, New York Volunteers), arriving March 6, 1847. The company disbanded in the fall of 1848.

Theall was part of a fairly large New York family. Born about 1817 to 1824 (he continually changed his birth date in various public records), he ran his own brokerage business in New York City in the early 1840’s as “H.W. Theall & Co.” at 4 Wall Street. He was one of thirteen Thealls listed in Doggett’s 1842 New York City Directory. Interestingly, Elias L. Theall was a druggist, another of the occupations that led some to become assayers in the West.

Theall may have had old friends in Virginia City in the early years of the Comstock. William W. Thayer was there, who was a druggist in New York City at the same time one of Theall’s relatives was a druggist. Regardless of the various ties, Theall made a trip to the Comstock perhaps late in 1862 and liked what he saw. In 1863 he opened his first assay office in Nevada Territory. Watching how Harris opened offices in new mining camps such as Aurora, Theall then opened an office in Austin at the onset of the Reese River Rush, managed by his associate J. M. Dawley.

In the early days of the Comstock, to survive as an assayer, you had to have contracts with producing mines. Theall lived near the Savage Mining Company’s office, and he probably had a contract with them. The Savage was producing bullion at a high level, so they used a number of assayers, checking the work of each, as well as checking the work of the custom mills that processed the ores. Another important association was with the banking industry. Gold Rush assayers often acted as banks. They bought and sold gold, converted gold to coin, and in this manner acted to assist in paying bills. As the banking industry developed through time in the West, the association of bank and assayer became critical. Theall became associated with Comstock bankers Paxton & Thornburgh. They rode that partnership to Austin, where Paxton & Thornburgh quickly became the main bank, and was the main bank for the largest silver producing company, the Manhattan Silver Mining Company.

Theall’s Austin Assay Office had a succession of operators. Dawley was followed by John Ramdohr, then Eugene Riotte, then Soderling. In November, 1865, he sold the Austin office to Boalt & Stetefeldt.

As the 1860’s were coming to a close, mining was hitting hard times, and a general recession was well under way by late 1867. Theall sold his Virginia City office to W.C. Bousefield in February, 1868, the same month he sold the Marysville office. In an interesting business twist, he returned to his old, original business as a stock broker.

As Theall was settling into his brokerage business, another massive silver discovery was made in eastern Nevada. With it came the Rush to White Pine. Theall was tempted, and was off to Hamilton by late 1868. The White Pine Rush brought in 25,000 people by June 1869. Theall opened an assay office in Hamilton, the center of the region. Theall’s second son Julian was born in Hamilton in early 1869. Active in local politics, Theall was elected as a Hamilton School Trustee in April, 1869.

In May, 1869, at the height of the White Pine activity, Theall suddenly died.

City: Virginia City State: Nevada Date: HWAC# 50968