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拍品专文
OTTO MEARS AND THE SILVERTON RAILROAD COMPANY
Otto Mears (1840-1931) was born in Courland, then a part of the Russian Empire, now part of present day Latvia, to an English-Jewish father and a Russian-Jewish mother. Orphaned at 4, Mears moved between family members in England and New York before finally ending up in San Francisco. After working odd jobs and serving in the California Volunteer Army during the Civil War, Mears became active in Colorado politics and transportation, developing toll roads throughout the state which would eventually lead to his roll in railroad development, including The Silverton Railroad, developed beginning in 1887 to connect Silverton, Colorado with the mining districts near Red Mountain Pass. It was during the construction of this railroad that Mears took the common practice of issuing paper passes to family, donors, and important community figures to raise the profile of a new railway, and elevated it by producing passes printed on buckskin in 1888, stamped in silver in 1889, and on watch fobs in 1890. For more about these passes, as well as a list of many of the passes known to be in existence today, see W. Strong, The Remarkable Passes of Otto Mears, Silverton, 1996.
Most recently, a silver pass for the Silverton Railroad Company issued to an M. Breen and numbered 271 was sold at Morphy Auctions, Las Vegas, Nevada, 26 January 2018, lot 141. This example was chased to have a completed date of 1889 in the upper right corner, and an expiration date of December 31st 1889 below Mr. Breen's name, and was marked on the back DIAMOND PALACE DENVER COLORADO.
CONSTANCE WHITNEY WARREN
Constance Whitney Warren (1888-1948) was born in New York, the great-great granddaughter on her mother's side of Stephen Whitney (1776-1860), one of the wealthiest merchants in New York in the first half of the 19th century second only to John Jacob Astor. After working as a driver during World War I, Warren became a prominent sculptor, exhibiting in Paris and throughout the US. Warren married Count Guy de Lasteyrie (1879-1944) on 19 December 1912, and the couple moved to Paris to live in a countryside chateau. Following their divorce in the early 1920's, Warren returned to the United States where she lived until her death in 1948 in Beacon, New York.
Otto Mears (1840-1931) was born in Courland, then a part of the Russian Empire, now part of present day Latvia, to an English-Jewish father and a Russian-Jewish mother. Orphaned at 4, Mears moved between family members in England and New York before finally ending up in San Francisco. After working odd jobs and serving in the California Volunteer Army during the Civil War, Mears became active in Colorado politics and transportation, developing toll roads throughout the state which would eventually lead to his roll in railroad development, including The Silverton Railroad, developed beginning in 1887 to connect Silverton, Colorado with the mining districts near Red Mountain Pass. It was during the construction of this railroad that Mears took the common practice of issuing paper passes to family, donors, and important community figures to raise the profile of a new railway, and elevated it by producing passes printed on buckskin in 1888, stamped in silver in 1889, and on watch fobs in 1890. For more about these passes, as well as a list of many of the passes known to be in existence today, see W. Strong, The Remarkable Passes of Otto Mears, Silverton, 1996.
Most recently, a silver pass for the Silverton Railroad Company issued to an M. Breen and numbered 271 was sold at Morphy Auctions, Las Vegas, Nevada, 26 January 2018, lot 141. This example was chased to have a completed date of 1889 in the upper right corner, and an expiration date of December 31st 1889 below Mr. Breen's name, and was marked on the back DIAMOND PALACE DENVER COLORADO.
CONSTANCE WHITNEY WARREN
Constance Whitney Warren (1888-1948) was born in New York, the great-great granddaughter on her mother's side of Stephen Whitney (1776-1860), one of the wealthiest merchants in New York in the first half of the 19th century second only to John Jacob Astor. After working as a driver during World War I, Warren became a prominent sculptor, exhibiting in Paris and throughout the US. Warren married Count Guy de Lasteyrie (1879-1944) on 19 December 1912, and the couple moved to Paris to live in a countryside chateau. Following their divorce in the early 1920's, Warren returned to the United States where she lived until her death in 1948 in Beacon, New York.