2374

Escalante Mine Silver Ingots [146090]

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Ingots Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 700.00 USD
Escalante Mine Silver Ingots  [146090]
SOLD
750.00USDto S******1+ buyer's premium (153.75)
This item SOLD at 2022 Feb 25 @ 13:49UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
SHIPPING & HANDLING: Shipping is subject to a minimum charge of $19.00. Shipping and handling cannot be estimated prior to invoicing as it is based on the size and weight of your purchase. Additional shipping and handling costs, if required, will be re-invoiced 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 and size.SHIPPING & HANDLING: Shipping and Handling cannot be estimated prior to invoicing, based on the size a...
Matched pair of one ounce ingot with sequential serial numbers (005661, 005662) with assay certificates. Also one ten ounce ingot (#003951), also with assay certificate.

HISTORY
Rancher’s Exploration and Development Corporation had a big stock
move in 1980 after the company discovered silver at the Escalante
Silver Mine and the price of silver was pushed to unprecedented
heights. The Hunt Brothers put the squeeze on silver in 1979 and 1980
trying to corner the market. The Hunts were able to drive the price
of silver up from $6 at the beginning of 1979 to $51 in January 1980
when the price of silver peaked before dropping precipitously to $11
by March of 1980.

Ranchers Exploration began offering to pay dividends not in US
Dollars, but in gold and silver, in part to attract shareholders to their
stock. This was a landmark event for a public mining company. It took
advantage of a “loophole” in Federal tax law that allowed payment “in
kind” in lieu of cash, and was untaxable until it was sold. This did not
sit well with the IRS, who changed the law immediately to render any
change in hands of bullion taxable as cash.

The Dutch East India Company had regularly paid in-kind dividends
to its shareholders in the 1600s and the Ranchers Development and
Exploration Corp. decided to follow in their footsteps. The June 1981
dividend was payable in 2.5 grams of gold for every 500 shares held.
Holders who owned 6,221 shares received a one-ounce gold bar. Cash
equal to $0.0766 was paid for fractional shares. The September 1981
dividend was payable in 2.5 grams for each 400 shares held. Holders
of 4,997 shares received a one-ounce bar in gold. Gold was selling at
$600 an ounce on June 8, 1981 and $700 an ounce on September 24,
1981. In 1981, Ranchers Exploration had about three million shares
outstanding, so the company would have paid out about 600 ounces
in gold. In December, the company switched from gold to silver,
and shareholders received a one-ounce bar of silver for every 120
shares that they owned. This would mean that the company paid out
25,000 ounces of silver to its shareholders. The March and June 1982
dividends were also payable in silver at the rate of 1 ounce of silver for
each 120 shares, the September 1982 at the rate of 1 ounce of silver
for each 100 shares, and the December 1982 dividend was payable in
gold at the rate of 1 ounce of gold for every 4,977 shares. The 1983
dividends were payable at the rate of 1 ounce of silver for each 100
shares owned and the 1984 dividends were payable at the rate of 1
ounce of silver for each 150 shares owned. Investors who were tired of
getting paid in dollars that were rapidly losing their value to inflation
piled into the stock. The price of Ranchers Exploration shares gyrated
with the price of gold and silver The stock price fell from over $65 at
its peak in April 1981 to $12.50 in March 1982 and rose up to $53
($35.25 after the 3-for-2 split) in April 1984. Other corporations saw
value in the company, and on July 27, 1984, Ranchers Exploration and
Development Corp. was acquired by Hecla Mining with shareholders
receiving 1.55 shares of Hecla Mining Co. common stock, equivalent to
about $21 in cash. Hecla Mining did pay dividends to its shareholders,
but in cash, not in gold or silver. The Escalante mine produced about
15.5 million troy ounces of silver over its life, including 2.3 million
ounces last year plus 1,080 ounces of gold from 294,000 tons of
ore milled. Hecla closed the mine in 1988, after acquiring Ranchers
Exploration in 1984.



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