John W. Mackay: The Silver King

John W. Mackay was one of the Bonanza Kings, the four men who monopolized the Comstock Lode and made their fortunes in silver. Mackay became a corporate titan and wealthy as a rajah. When his wife asked him for a silver dinner service, he made sure she got the best. He sent a thousand pounds of pure silver to Tiffany and Company in New York where two hundred silversmiths worked for two years to fashion the 1,350-piece set. It cost him $190,000, and Mrs. Mackay had what is now considered the finest silver service ever made. Mackay, who owned banks, large swaths of real estate in California, New York and Europe, and built the transatlantic and transpacific cables, remained well-grounded and unaffected by wealth or station. He did not live ostentatiously, preferring a simple life unadorned by extravagance. His wife could not have been different; her dazzling jewels, mansions in Paris and London, and lavish lifestyle beguiled Europeans and Americans alike. Her homes were the centerpieces of the social scene in both European capitals. Mackay's willingness to go toe-to-toe with Jay Gould, one of the most powerful and canny titans, and Gould's Western Union to reduce cable prices, demonstrated Mackay's formidable tenacity and unwillingness to lose. Award-winning author Daniel Alef tells the story of Mackay, his spectacular success and the unique family life he led. [2,724-word Titans of Fortune article].