The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 23, June 10, 2007, Article 25

1867 PATTERN COINS MISSING FROM IOWA MUSEUM COLLECTION

The Des Moines Register reported on June 1 that "Twenty-seven rare 
1867 coins worth more than $150,000 are missing from their designated 
storage spot at the Iowa State Historical Building.

"The coins are copper trial strikes made from dies used some 140 
years ago by the U.S. Mint. Trial strikes were often made in lighter 
metals as presentation pieces; the process let the U.S. Mint show 
what the coins for the next year were going to look like. The 
collection included two examples of each coin so both sides could 
be displayed at one time.

"Four of the original 34 copper trial strike coins are still in 
the museum's permanent collection of 110,000 artifacts.

"The coins apparently came to Iowa through John Kasson, a U.S. 
representative from Iowa who was chairman of the Committee on 
Coinage, Weights and Measures. He also was first assistant 
postmaster general in President Abraham Lincoln's administration 
in 1861.

"John Holden of Garwin made a special display case for the coins 
in the shape of the state of Iowa. The collection included pennies, 
2-cent pieces, 3-cent pieces, half dimes, dimes, quarters, half 
dollars, and "gold coins" (made of copper) in all denominations. 
The $20 trial strike pieces are worth about $11,000 each today, 
according to Steve Contursi, president of Rare Coin Wholesalers 
of Dana Point, Calif. He estimated the value of a complete 
collection of cleaned trial strikes from 1867 at $176,000."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum