A great, historical old piece cut by hand with chisel and hammer from a 40-ton piece of native copper! This find was famous. They hit a lode so rich that huge copper nuggets were found in the veins, and one measured some 40 tons. It could not be moved, nor could it be blasted (large coppers simply absorb the shock and compress a bit, but don't blast apart). Thus, the mine employed parties of miners working around the clock on three shifts for months, to carve the nugget up by hand and haul the pieces out. I am told that historians have written the mine actually LOST MONEY by the time all the human labor was factored in. This sliver is the kind of filing they would chip off the large nugget until, bit by bit, they reduced it and smelted the whole thing. The old label indicates the piece was cut in 1860 (pre-Civil War!!) and provides the ultimate documentation you'd want for such a neat artifact. Nice brown patina also confirms the age. Comes with Hugh Ford early 1900's label and also former Edna Doughty collection with label.