The General Steam Locomotive Vintage Silver Bar
Happy Monday everyone! Yesterday I watched part of the Super Bowl and it was kind of a sleeper in the first half. It did get a little better in the second but still not a great game. The commercials were the best part yesterday (as usual.) For those who wagered on the event I hope you picked Seattle, the Patriots were less than stellar!
Today's post has absolutely nothing to do with sports, that is unless you consider stealing a train a sport. We'll get to that later... I decided to share a vintage silver bar featuring a train locomotive know as the General.
About the bar:
Numista.com
This is a one troy ounce solid silver bar produced by the Madison Mint in 1972. Madison was well known for producing silver bars particularly in the 1970's, but are now long since a defunct company. It's a commemorative bar that remembers the commandeering of the locomotive the General in 1862 during the United States Civil War. At that point it had been 110 years since the event, now over 160 years. The bar is over 50 years old and looks great for it's age. These older bars tend to carry a nice premium collector's value so they are fun to add to your silver stack!
The General
reddit.com
The General is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive build in Patterson, New Jersey in 1855. It was run by burning wood to produce the steam to operate the vehicle. Since that time it has been converted to a coal burning engine as it's more efficient that wood. While there are many surviving locomotives in the class, this one is unique due to it's history.
During the United States Civil War all sorts of plans were concocted to try and win the war. James G. Andrew devised a plan to steal a locomotive in Georgia. The goal was to bring the locomotive to Tennessee all the while destroying train tracks and telegraph wires to prevent the resupply of Confederate troops in Tennessee. Andrews and twenty-two others including Union soldiers on April 12, 1862 in Big Shanty, Georgia, commandeered the General to carry out the plan. This started what was called the Great Locomotive Chase as Confederate troops used locomotive the Texas and even handcards to chase them down. After some 87 miles the General ran out of wood and water for steam leaving it stranded on the tracks.
Andrews and the others were all captured within two weeks, he an seven of them were hanged shortly after. The others fearing execution escaped and made their way north in pairs of two until rescued. The survivors received the medal of honor as they were all military personnel.
The General has since been restored and currently resides in the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia (formerly Big Shanty, Georgia.) It really is nice to see these majestic pieces of history being preserved so well!
That will wrap up my post for this Monday, I do hope you enjoyed the silver bar and learning a little about the history of the General. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below, and thank you for all of you support. I really do deeply appreciate it. Have a great week everyone!
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_(locomotive)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Andrews
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Locomotive_Chase
Disclaimer
I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!
All pictures are mine unless otherwise indicated.
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Nice read. Thanks for the history. I love that about collecting so much. The rabbit holes you can go down sometimes.
Thanks Joe! Glad you liked it! It interesting what you can learn when you collect things like this. I never would have really known that story if it hadn't been for purchasing this bar years and years ago!
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STOPNice bar.
!pimp
It's actually kind of crazy just how small they were in the early days compared to the monsters that are running the tracks these days.
The commemorative silver bar looks sturdy and durable
The silver bar is now more than 50 years
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Awesome that they restored the general, what a beautiful wood-burning steam locomotive!!🤗
Liz and I have been train fans for years, we even owned a model railroad toy store years ago!
Did you know the 4-4-0 represents the configuration of wheels on the locomotive😇