Williams Gold Refining Company. History: In 1897 Gold was discovered in the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory in Canada. During that Canadian Gold Rush, Alexander D. Williams discovered the 2nd largest gold nugget found in the Klondike, a 26-ouncer! In 1907, he founded Williams Gold Refining Company in Kansas City with money made from mining gold in the Yukon. Then in 1912 he bought out his partner and started a plant in Buffalo to make dental gold. In 1922, He hired his brother Malcolm, to run another plant across the border in Fort Erie Ontario. This is where this ingot was poured. The brothers not only made a name for themselves in the Dental gold industry, but starting in 1958, also manufactured the very first silver and gold alloys to be used in the semi-conductor industry. The Williams Companies set the standard for purity of gold, used by the United States Bureau of Standards. In 1986, when the company was purchased by Materion, it lead the industry in both of its specialty divisions, dental and industrial. Each division was sold to a different buyer and each is now part of two of the largest specialty precious metal refiners in the world.
