The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 2, January 12, 2003, Article 13

WILLIAM SHARON DINNER SILVER INGOT

  One standout exhibit at last year's ANA convention in
  New York included a silver ingot made for a special dinner
  in San Francisco in 1876 in honor of William Sharon,
  a Nevada Senator and bank baron.  Dealer Fred Holabird
  published an article on newly discovered example of the
  ingot in the Winter 2002 issue of The Brasher Bulletin,
  newsletter of the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatics.

  The article contains a reference to Panamint Balls of silver,
  which were discussed in the E-Sylum last November
  (v4n47 and n48).  From the article (and Holabird's web
  site):

  "Senator Wm. Morris Stewart ... headed a bunch of investors
  along with John P. Jones in the mines at Panamint, California.
  In 1875 they pulled out a million in silver, but were acutely
  aware of highwaymen just waiting for the bullion-laden wagons
  to come down the treacherous canyons out of the Panamints.
  The mountains are so rugged, that there is about 6000 feet
  of relief in just over a mile of horizontal distance. Even the
  mighty Wells Fargo & Co. would not dare to establish an
  express office there for fear the risk of robbery was too high.

  "They said they wouldn't run any risks at Panamint, not with
  that bunch of highwaymen lying around just waiting to swoop
  down and gobble up every dollar in sight."  Stewart needed
  a plan. "Finally I hit on a scheme.  I had some moulds made
  in which a ball of solid silver could be run weighing 750 pounds.
  Then I began smelting the ore, and I ran out enormous cannon
  balls of the precious stuff that could have bombarded a
  battleship. When the road agents saw what I was doing, their
  eyes stuck out of their heads" "they acted as though I had
  cheated them out of property."
  http://www.holabird.org/americana2002/archive/Auction11/ingots.htm

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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