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Henry G. & Abbot Hanks, Pacific Chemical Works, SF Assayer Archive [166985]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 800.00 USD
Henry G. & Abbot Hanks, Pacific Chemical Works, SF Assayer Archive [166985]
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Lot of 12. Fantastic collection. This assayer is known to collectors for his unique use of Egyptian assay motifs for his business documents. Henry G. Hanks was born in 1826. He worked in India for a year and came back to American where he travelled the states. By 1850 (US Census) he was living in Cleveland and working as a sign and house painter (probably with his father). From 1852 to 1856 he worked in various mines in California and engaged in several businesses in Sacramento. An obvious business would be as a painter as he had experience in this. In the 1860 census he is living in San Francisco and his occupation is listed as a paint dealer. In 1866 everything changed for him. He opened his own assay company, the Pacific Chemical Works. In 1880 he was appointed California's State Mineralogist - a position he held until 1866. Under his guidance a museum and library were created. In 1878 Hanks was sent as mineral commissioner to the Paris Exposition. In 1885 he went to New Orleans and in 1893 to Chicago in the same capacity. He was founder of the Microscopical Society of San Francisco and was considered to have the finest mineral specimen collection in the city. [The Mineralogical Record: Biographical Archive] 1-2) Two different business cards. Earlier piece (c.1880s-90s) is for Henry G. Hanks, Pacific Chemical Works, 718 Montgomery Street. Underprint Egyptian assay vignette (same on reverse). Later card is for when his son, Abbot A. Hanks, now ran the business, located at 630 Sacramento St. 3) 1853 letterhead for Hanks & Crawley, Ornamental Painters, Sacramento City. This was what Hanks was doing before starting the assay business. Signed by Henry Hanks. 4) Fantastic 1891 pictorial SF billhead for Henry G. Hanks, Practical Chemist, Assayer & Geologist. Billed to J. Henry Strachan of Teels Marsh, Nevada (the site of "Borax" Smith's first borax works at Marietta, Nevada in 1872). For analyses of soda. Egyptian vignette. 5-6) Two page Assay Certificate for Abbot A. Hanks, 1899, for assays to the Keystone Mining Company. Egyptian vignette. 7) Henry G. Hanks form listing Will's Table XII (Detection of Acids) "Behavior of the more important Acids towards Precipitants" - Blank date 18__. The form reflects the wide aperture and diversification on chemical analysis. 8) 1910 letterhead for Abbot A. Hanks to Kennedy M&MC. 9) 1916 Certificate of Assay for Abbot A. Hanks. 10-12) Three pictorial receipts for Abbot A. Hanks, 1925, for Lloyd White of Fairfield, Idaho. Egyptian vignette.

Date: 1853-1925
Country (if not USA):
State: California
City: San Francisco
Provenance: