SALT LAKE CITY — The Arizona Spike, one of four created for ceremonies marking the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, sold for $2.22 million in an auction that concluded last week, far more than had been anticipated.
KSL-TV reports Christie’s had set a pre-auction estimate of $300,00 to $500,000 for the spike, with Peter Klarnet of Christie’s telling Artnet News that the sale “soared past our expectations.”
No information was available on the buyer.
Along with two gold spikes and a silver spike, the Arizona Spike was created for the ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah, from gold, silver, and iron from the Arizona Territory and given to Union Pacific President Oliver Ames. It is engraved with a message reading, “Ribbed with iron, clad in silver and crowned with gold Arizona presents her offering to the enterprise that has banded a continent, dictated a pathway to commerce. Presented by Governor Safford.”
The Arizona spike was actually given to UP Director (and later President) Sidney Dillon (not UP President Oliver Ames). Dillon’s heirs ultimately gave the spike to the Museum of the City of New York in 1943.