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Gold Rail Road Spike.

PRECIOUSMENTALPRECIOUSMENTAL Posts: 961 ✭✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum

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    jwittenjwitten Posts: 5,430 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Incredible!

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    CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 34,212 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very interesting!

    Professional Numismatist, Retired. 55 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner of the PNG's 2026 Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.
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    stevebensteveben Posts: 4,666 ✭✭✭✭✭

    super cool!

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    littlebearlittlebear Posts: 1,602 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Love it!

    Autism Awareness: There is no limit to the good you can do, if you don't care who gets the credit.
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    dpooledpoole Posts: 5,940 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Can that be true?! That's wonderful!


    Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...



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    PRECIOUSMENTALPRECIOUSMENTAL Posts: 961 ✭✭✭✭

    CascadeChris, thanks for posting the info and pics!

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    RegulatedRegulated Posts: 2,994 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That's one of the coolest things I've seen on here in a long time - thanks for the post!


    What is now proved was once only imagined. - William Blake
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    BackroadJunkieBackroadJunkie Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 13, 2017 12:55AM

    @BillJones said:
    Wow! What a piece of history! Finishing the transcontinental railroad in the 19th century was like landing a man on the moon in the 20th.

    Yep, and there should have been a 150th anniversary commem in 2019, but that's going to the Apollo 11 and the American Legion(?).

    The thing that always made me wonder, given that gold is so soft, how can you drive it like a spike?

    Rumor has it that the spike was only about 75% gold. It's impossible to find out, though, since the "real" spike has been missing since 1906, right after the SF earthquake.

    Anyway, here's an article on the "lost spike":

    cprr.net:The lost spike has been found!!!

    An image of the site where it was driven (taken in 1998):

    And my web page on Golden Spike NHS:

    Golden Spike National Historic Site

    (Edit to add webpage.)

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    BillJonesBillJones Posts: 35,977 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Even if it's 75% gold, that would be quite soft.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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    TreashuntTreashunt Posts: 6,748 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I lost it, and have been looking for it for ages.

    Thanks for finding it for me

    Frank

    BHNC #203

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    rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I always wondered, gold being so soft - even a 75% alloy - if they actually 'drove' it into the joining tie.... likely just placed it ceremoniously into a pre-drilled hole.... Great artifact, and I did not know there were two made. Cheers, RickO

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    TreashuntTreashunt Posts: 6,748 ✭✭✭✭✭

    RickO, agreed, I doubt they actually 'drove' it in.

    Frank

    BHNC #203

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    BackroadJunkieBackroadJunkie Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    From Nothing Like It In The World by Stephen Ambrose:

    When the Golden Spike was tapped in, the telegraph lines would send the message all around the country. (The spike would be placed in a hole already drilled, so that it only had to be tapped down and could be easily extracted.)

    The book is a very good read if you want to learn just about every aspect of the Transcontinental Railroad...

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    oih82w8oih82w8 Posts: 13,242 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wooo-doggies!

    oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait _defectus patientia_aka...Dr. Defecto - Curator of RMO's

    BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
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    goldengolden Posts: 10,552 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I was at the site in Utah in the 1990's. They brought both of the trains out to recreate the ceremony. It was way cool!

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    EagleEyeEagleEye Posts: 7,677 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Sesquicentennial of the Trans-continental railroad - 150 years ago last week (July 5, 1867), the town of Cheyenne, in the Dakota Territory was laid out. It became another "Hell on wheels" when the Union Pacific laid its tracks there in November. It was a major depot for the railroad.

    This is an image of Cheyenne in 1868:

    Rick Snow, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, Inc.Check out my new web site:
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    ashelandasheland Posts: 24,548 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Super cool!

    My YouTube Channel

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    keetskeets Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭

    what RickO said, no way was that spike driven into a tie no matter what its compostion/purity.

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    EagleEyeEagleEye Posts: 7,677 ✭✭✭✭✭

    2005 - The lost spike has been found!!!

    Rick Snow, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, Inc.Check out my new web site:
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    BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,678 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @BillJones said:
    Wow! What a piece of history! Finishing the transcontinental railroad in the 19th century was like landing a man on the moon in the 20th.

    The thing that always made me wonder, given that gold is so soft, how can you drive it like a spike?

    Pre-drive it with a regular spike, pull the regular spike out and presto, you're good to go.

    theknowitalltroll;

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