Stack's Bowers & Ponterio
April 2021 Hong Kong Auction 5-8 Apr 2021
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CHINA. Hubei Yuanbao. Provincial Principal Ingots. Silver 50 Tael Provincial Tax Ingot, ND (ca. 1875-1908). Emperor De Zong (Guang Xu). EXTREMELY FINE.
BMC-Class XIV Group A. Weight: 1,835 gms. Right: "Guang xu yuan bao" (Guangxu era, principal ingot), Left: "Hu bei sheng zao" (Made in Hubei province), Center: "Shang hai" (Shanghai city, Jiangsu), Upper right: "Jiang su" (Jiangsu province), Upper left: "Xiang gang" (Hong Kong, British colony), Lower right: "Nan jing" (Nanjing city, Jiangsu), Lower left: "He nei" (Hanoi city, Vietnam). This lustrous and handsome survivor exhibits bold well-applied stamps, though there are a few areas of flatness where definition of the characters is lost. The face and the outer surfaces display light signs of handling with minor bumps and abrasions, but nothing of real significance. This attractive representative is quite charming displaying lovely pale sunset hued patina with scattered earthen deposits amongst the devices adding to its originality.
From the Colorado School of Mines Museum of Earth Science, donated by Gerald Carl Herfurth (1930-1998).
BMC-Class XIV Group A. Weight: 1,835 gms. Right: "Guang xu yuan bao" (Guangxu era, principal ingot), Left: "Hu bei sheng zao" (Made in Hubei province), Center: "Shang hai" (Shanghai city, Jiangsu), Upper right: "Jiang su" (Jiangsu province), Upper left: "Xiang gang" (Hong Kong, British colony), Lower right: "Nan jing" (Nanjing city, Jiangsu), Lower left: "He nei" (Hanoi city, Vietnam). This lustrous and handsome survivor exhibits bold well-applied stamps, though there are a few areas of flatness where definition of the characters is lost. The face and the outer surfaces display light signs of handling with minor bumps and abrasions, but nothing of real significance. This attractive representative is quite charming displaying lovely pale sunset hued patina with scattered earthen deposits amongst the devices adding to its originality.
From the Colorado School of Mines Museum of Earth Science, donated by Gerald Carl Herfurth (1930-1998).
Gerald Carl "Gerry" Herfurth was born in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California on June 26, 1930, the son of Geraldine Wylie and Carl E. Herfurth (1887-1978).
Herfurth served as a second lieutenant in the National Guard (1948-1955) while attending Regis College in Denver from 1949 to 1953, earning a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. He worked in financial investments for the rest of his life. Having an interest in Chemistry, and possible also minerals, he was a member of the college's Chemistry Club. The 1965-1970 Denver City Directory lists him as a "mineralogist," living with his parents; around 1966 he married Hilja Karen ___, a native of Switzerland and an opera enthusiast. She became interested in minerals as well, especially in the realm of fine lapidary art.
Herfurth built a very fine collection of minerals, meteorites, and gems. He also collected Native American artifacts. He was a member of the Meteoritical Society. He died in Lakewood, Colorado on December 16, 1998 at the age of 68. His wife, Hilja, donated about 600 specimens (valued at $350,000) from his collection to the Colorado School of Mines Museum of Earth Science in 1999, and the rest, another 800 specimens (valued at $1.75 million), along with a cash bequest of $200,000, at the time of her death in 2016.
Estimate: $7000.00- $9000.00