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William Sharon Signed Bank of California Check, 1867 [173369]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
William Sharon Signed Bank of California Check, 1867    [173369]
SOLD
130.00USD+ (32.50) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2023 Dec 08 @ 13:49UTC-8 : PST/AKDT

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Issued 1867 Bank of California check signed by William Sharon. US and Nevada adhesive revenue stamps. "William Tang Sharon was a United States senator, banker, and business owner from Nevada who profited from the Comstock Lode. Sharon moved to California in 1849, accompanied by his friend John Douglas Fry (July 1, 1819 – February 3, 1901). Sharon and Fry engaged in business together for a short time in Sacramento. Sharon then moved to San Francisco in 1850, where he dealt in real estate. In 1852, he married Maria Malloy (Quebec, 1832 – San Francisco, May 14, 1875). He moved to Virginia City, Nevada in 1864 as manager of the branch of the Bank of California and became interested in silver mining. Sharon was a business partner of Darius Mills and William Ralston, as well as the Nevada agent for the Bank of California. The bank profited greatly from loaning money to mining and milling operations and then foreclosing on those operations when the owners defaulted. The Bank of California owned mines as well as reduction mills, which Sharon controlled. In his efforts to monopolize the Comstock mining region, Sharon directed mined ore be sent to this mill or that, and affectively “starved out” competition, i.e. those who had come to the bank for loans. The bank also built and owned the famous Virginia and Truckee Railroad. William Sharon acquired many of Ralston's assets in 1875 when Ralston's financial empire collapsed and he died. He was thought by some of his contemporaries to have actually aided the collapse. He certainly was the main beneficiary of Ralston's assets. Those assets included the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and Ralston Hall in Belmont, California." from wikipedia Virginia City Nevada Franklin Collection