I found this old photograph of my Great Uncle Rex.
He was a miner during the US Gold Rush. Got his teeth knocked out in a San Fran saloon brawl around 1855, so he replaced them with some 24k nuggets he panned out of the river bed. 
Discussion
not to be deterred by a little setback he did the one thing that would ensure either people leave him the fuck alone or fight him till his dying day ;)