A rare and historic 19th century example of native silver from the Ida Elmore Mine in Idaho!!! This is a pair of specimens that host
a rich showing
of native silver included throughout the quartz matrix!!! One specimen has been partially polished one one side to show just how rich the
silver is - there is much more silver present than it appears in the pics!!! This material has a definite golden hue due to a significant gold content!!!
The native silver runs the entire
length of the polished specimen and is visible all the way around!!!
These specimens came from a larger specimen I sold some time ago (a digital copy of the old label is available upon request)!!! This material dates to the mid to late 1800's!!!
This locality is historically significant because it was one of the only mines to be the actual site of a WAR!!! Yes, that is right, the
Ida Elmore mine was the site of the Owyhee War!!! The following is an excerpt taken from "True West Magazine":
In February 1868, miners working the Golden Chariot Mine beneath Silver city - a boomtown located in the Owyhee Mountains
about 60 miles southwest of Boise - burrowed into a shaft belonging to the Ida Elmore Mine. For several weeks, the two
factions cussed and fumed, each side accusing the other of tunneling beyond its claim.
On March 25, temsions came to a head when a party of Golden Chariot minors invaded the Ida Elmore shaft. A suberranean
gunfight soon erupted and then escalated until 100 men were engaged in the battle, which was known as the Owyhee War.
For three days the two underground armies fired at each other, spraying so much lead into the Ida Elmore's support
timbers that the mine nearly collapsed.
When news of th ewar reached Idaho's territorial governor, he issued an order demanding that the two sides immediately
end their fighting and settle their feud in court.
In addition to being a fantastic and rich old time specimen, this is a fantastic piece of mining history as well!!! The pics hardly do it justice!!! Must be seen in person to be fully appreciated!!!
Good luck and be sure to check out my other exciting mineral auctions on ebay!!!
