C. Wiegand, Assayer. Gold Hill, Virginia City, Nevada. Gold & silver assay ingot no. 2077‏

Overall appearance of Extremely Fine. Very pale yellow gold in color. Polished surfaces, squared edges, sharp corners mark this as probably made as a presentation bar. Hairlined from many cleanings since, some stray signs of careless handling. Observe the typical Wiegand's bar layout: bar number at top, underneath in this sequence the weight of the bar, the individual gold and silver fineness, the ethnic, the individual gold and silver values, and the total value of the bar. Noted as in the Kagin Reference Collection on July 31, 1956.; subsequently purchased by Mr. Ford.

 

NOTE:

A number of precious metal ingots remain today as a testament to this troubled, yet apparently brilliant man. Perhaps ten different silver ingots exist, mostly from the Gold Hill Assay Office. A few may have originated from the short-lived Virginia City office. At least five gold ingots exist from Wiegand’s Gold Hill Assay Office, all dated 1865 or 1866, which was during the initial period of his Comstock assay business, and during which time Wiegand pushed the specie in payment issue in preference over greenbacks.

Much has been written of late on Wiegand, but little of it coming from detailed research. Wiegand’s historical record clearly demonstrates that he made many presentation ingots including one to Sam Clemens. More importantly, he was an outspoken proponent of specie as money. He constantly pushed the “specie as money” concept in the press, in public speeches, in printed pamphlets, and in his own newspaper. From his early days working for the Branch Mint at San Francisco to his last days on the Comstock, Wiegand promoted the use of gold and silver.