3101

Theall & Co. Marysville Assay Office Pair [164603]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Theall & Co. Marysville Assay Office Pair [164603]
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Lot of 2. Possibly unique; extremely rare. 1) Memorandum of Gold Bullion Deposited in the Assay Office of Theall & Co. in Marysville, January 3rd, 1863 by I. Glazier & Bro. Notation at top says "Trittle(?) Ledge No. 1." Bullion weighed 10.73 Troy oz. after melting and was assayed to be 726 fine in gold valued at $161.03. The depositors, brothers Isaac and Simon Glazier, both born in Austria, immigrated to the United States and settled in Marysville, California in 1851. There, they opened the Old Corner Cigar Store, a business made profitable by supplying tobacco to miners. In 1862, the Glaziers relocated to San Francisco, where they joined William Seligsberg in a partnership on the San Francisco Stock Exchange. Blue print. 4.5 x 11.5" 2) Companion piece is a Wells Fargo & Co. Marysville letterhead with 1863 message from a Mr. Crockett to Alex. M. Hayden in Sacramento. Message discusses two bullion bars for the Glazier Bros.; one in house and one in Virginia City that will be brought here. At that point, Hayden can sign for them. 7 x 7.5" While Theall & Co. are perhaps best known for their Comstock office, these are great companion pieces. Theall opened a second assay office in Virginia City on the Comstock in 1863 and a third in Austin in 1864 to accommodate the Reese River Silver discovery.

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.

In 1866 Theall remarried to Susan Matthews.

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.

Date: 1863
Country (if not USA):
State: California
City: Marysville
Provenance: