Treasures including a Stradivarius violin on auction block
Published September 17th, 2005
Ophus Auction Service of Big Sandy will conduct the Cruse-Sweeney Antique Auction beginning at 9 a.m. today with registration. Bidding begins at 10 a.m. The sale is in the Fort Benton Agricultural Museum and Center.Among items listed on the sale bill are a grand piano built in the late 1800s; cut glass from Czechoslovakia, custom built silver- or gold-inlaid canes, one of which bears the initial “C”; a set of gold crested Limoge oyster plates; and a Stradivarius violin.Thomas Cruse was an Irish immigrant who struck gold in 1876 at Marysville, northwest of Helena. He became wealthy overnight and soon sold most of his share of the Drumlummon Mine to a London firm for $1.5 million.Cruse opened a bank in Helena in 1887. It was one of the few Montana banks that remained solvent through the silver crash of 1893.
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