The “Arizona Spike” — a gold and silver clad railroad spike used to memorialize the completion of the world’s first transcontinental railroad — sold at the Christie’s auction last week for $2.2 million.
The spike is around five inches, according to Artnet News. Christie’s Vice President Peter Klarnet said, “This was a one-of-a-kind piece of historic importance and we knew it would be the subject of intense competition among collectors. In the end, the value soared past our expectations.”
The message on the spike reads, “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.” According to Trains, the gold, silver and iron that the spike is made out of comes from the Arizona Territory.
The Arizona Spike was used at a ceremony in Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869. According to Railfan & Railroad Magazine, this ceremony was to “celebrate the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. The spikes were placed into the ties along the last stretch of rail and were gently hammered in before being replaced with regular iron spikes.”
After the ceremony, the spike was thought to go to Arizona, but it ended up with a railroad official named Sidney Dillion. It was kept in his family until 1943, when it was donated to the Museum of the City of New York.
Then, per Railfan & Railroad Magazine, the spike was loaned to the Smithsonian, which is when it became more widely known — Dillion had not told many people that he had the spike. The museum decided to sell the spike in the recent Christie’s auction.
The joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads came about due to the innovation of some engineers and a congressional act. An engineer named Theodore Judah found a spot in the Sierra Nevada mountains (Donner Pass) where the railroad could run through.
He found some investors for the project, according to History.com, and convinced several congressional leaders, as well as then-President Abraham Lincoln, to make the Pacific Railroad Act. The act stipulated that the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad would each build a leg of railroad and then meet in the middle.
After intense amounts of work, the railroad companies were within miles of each other and decided to meet at Promontory Summit. The final spike was driven through the ground at 12:47 p.m. on May 10, 1869, which marked the completion of the railroad, per History.com. The completion of the railroad became national news.
The ceremonial spike that was sold on Jan. 27 was in commemoration of this completion. The identity of the buyer is currently unknown.