Portrait of Hermann Eckstein

People/financier, magnate

Hermann Eckstein

Hermann Eckstein (1847–1893), financier, magnate, from Germany. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

In 1888 Alfred Beit arranged for him to set up a Witwatersrand branch of the firm, trading as H. Eckstein and Co.1,2,3

Legacy

His firm became a leading house on the Rand. The Dictionary of National Biography names him only briefly, in the Beit entry.1,2,3

Story cards

Timeline

  1. from July 1886Witwatersrand gold rush4
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Where next

People

Partner ofAlfred BeitBeit's man on the Rand until his death in 1893.1

Events

Worked atWitwatersrand gold rushBeit sent him to set up H. Eckstein and Co. on the Rand.1

Places

Worked atJohannesburgHis firm became a leading house in early Johannesburg.1

Sources

  1. Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement: Beit, Alfred Wikisource (public domain source text)
  2. Wikidata item Q3134143
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  4. Year Book Australia 1911, gold chapter Australian Bureau of Statistics

Pictures on this page: Hermann Eckstein00.jpg, not recorded on the file page (Public domain); Alfred Beit00.jpg, Giovanni Boldini (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).