salt the mine

salt the mine (third-person singular simple present salts the mine, present participle salting the mine, simple past and past participle salted the mine)

1. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see salt,‎ the,‎ mine.
   • 1989, John Burke, The Legend of Baby Doe: The Life and Times of the Silver Queen of the West, U of Nebraska Press →ISBN, page 53

     He then discovered that Lovell had salted the mine with ore from the Little Pittsburgh.

   • 2000, Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power, Penguin Books, page 159

     They then salted the “mine” with these gems, which the first expert dug up and brought to San Francisco.

   • 2014, Harriet Hudson, The Wooing of Katie May, Hachette UK →ISBN

     Smith had merely dug a shaft, salted the mine with a good grade ore, in order to lure Jeremiah into purchasing.

   • 2010, Michael Stanley, A Carrion Death, Hachette UK →ISBN

     "Ferraz then salted the mine with the quality diamonds from Angola," Kubu continued, "making it look as though De Beers had made a mistake."

2. (by extension) To set up a confidence trick; to plant false evidence of the value of something.
   • 1954, P.G. Wodehouse, Bertie Wooster Sees It Through, Simon and Schuster →ISBN, page 86

     "Yes. I thought it would be a shrewd move to salt the mine." I didn't get this. She seemed to me an aunt who was talking in riddles.

   • 2005, Paul Lindsay, The Big Scam: A Novel of the FBI, Simon and Schuster →ISBN, page 275

     “Salting the mine. We'll salt the mine.” Egan still didn't seem to understand. “You college boys, all that training and you can't see the nose on your face. We'll plant a body.”

   • 2006, Steven T. Katz, Alan Rosen, Elie Wiesel, Obliged by Memory: Literature, Religion, Ethics, Syracuse University Press →ISBN, page 64

     Historians are duty bound never to salt the mine of history by the creation of ersatz facts introduced to fulfill their preconceived ideas.

   • 2007, Ira Nottonson, Forming a Partnership : And Making It Work, Entrepreneur Press →ISBN, page 4

     His rationale was the same: these were amenities that a salesperson needed to salt the mine and make the right impression on customers.