We continue to enjoy The E-Sylum and thank you for producing it.

I thought I would mention my wife Jane's article about a newly attributed Baltimore Civil War token appeared in the Winter 2008 issue of The Civil War Token Journal. It is titled "Proof at Last - Ahern & Broadbent Civil War Token". Jane searched many Civil War era newspapers and other sources in order to locate the advertisements when the company began and ended, as well as detailed histories about Mr. Ahern and Mr. Broadbent. Since there was not a city directory for Baltimore in 1864, it was not possible to merely locate the company in a directory.

We are working with George Fuld and John Ostendorf on Baltimore tokens which should be added to the book on Civil War tokens. John has taken on a large task being the coordinator, and has been working very hard.

Everyone at Whitman was saddened to learn about Cornelius Vermeule's passing. We were honored to work with him on the new edition of his Numismatic Art in America last year.

From time to time over the course of the project, I would receive one of Vermeule's trademark "postcards in the round" --- instead of writing from left to right in traditional fashion, he would start at a point and spiral his text around until its conclusion. A unique way of communicating, from a decidedly unique communicator!

The National Medal of Arts was designed by internationally-renown sculptor, Robert Graham, whose design was chosen by a special committee of the National Council on the Arts from among 31 designs submitted in a national competition.

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States Government. The National Medal of Arts is awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who, in his judgment, "...are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States."

With respect to the so-called 1863 CSA ingot, it is almost certainly a recent fantasy concoction. The lettering and numbers do not resemble diesinking examples from the period. There is an abundance of fantasy CSA (and Union) Civil War items like this. The CSA was "silver-poor". At the time of their defeat, their tiny remaining treasury consisted almost exclusively of Mexican silver coinage, with which disheveled, discharged Confederate soldiers were paid by the victorious Union generals in charge of disbanding the Confederate Army.

I have seen similar Confederate bars, two images are attached. Earlier this year, Pierre Fricke contacted George Corell, my research associate, about two so-called Confederate silver bars. After some e-mail and face-to-face discussions between Corell and Fricke, images of the bars were passed to Fred Holabird, an expert on gold and silver bars. The response was what was expected, they were obvious fakes.

I spent over six years in research before publishing my book on the Confederate cent, and continue to research today. George Corell has spent nearly thirty years researching a sterling silver Confederate one-fourth coin he owns. During all of this research, neither of us had seen, read or heard of Confederate silver bars until these two appeared.

The Confederacy had both gold and silver bars, which were of Federal (Union) origin. Corell’s research of mint records show that both silver and gold bars were in the New Orleans Mint. Gold bars were in the Dahlonega Mint and, presumably, in the Charlotte Mint. All of this being at the time the Confederacy took control of these mints. C.G. Memminger, CSA Secretary of the Treasury, was opposed to the time and expense it would take to recast these bars or to melt and cast Federal specie. Memminger’s view was that the bars and specie could be used in Europe as they were. The existence of original Confederate gold or silver bars is doubtful.

Another thing missing, which I mentioned to the gentleman that contacted me concerning his CSA bars, is the noticeable lack of an Assayers stamp.

On the CSA ingots, it has been a hot topic recently. One showed up at the Baltimore ANA in August and it was reported that three more showed up in Michigan at a coin show there. These ingots have not been tested or analyzed by anyone with knowledge about antiquarian ingots to my knowledge. I have seen scans of two (maybe the same piece?), including one submitted to the History Detectives television show, for which I was consulted.

There are several suspicious things about these.

a. They resemble no known legitimate ingots
b. They are completely new to the historical record
c. They have come into the marketplace surreptitiously
d. The markings on the ingot have everything wrong with them, and little correct

My cautious and preliminary opinion is that they were made to fool people in an innocent way, in the same manner a souvenir copy, imitation, or creation of an antiquarian piece is made and rendered into the marketplace. Many of us have thoroughly researched ingots produced during the Civil War, primarily from Dahlonega.

With respect to the New York Numismatic Club, I had fond memories of their annual March New York Metropolitan Coin show held at the then Park- Sheraton Hotel, up the street from Stack's, at 57th St and 7th Ave. I recall distinctly that at a show circa 1961, President Martin Kortjohn approached me on the bourse floor and took me aside. He warned me that I would be escorted out if I continued to show a 1797 half cent which I had for sale. Only bourse dealers were permitted to sell coins.

At this show or perhaps the 1962 show , I was up on the balcony overlooking the bourse floor where the exhibits were placed. I gazed for quite a while at a magnificent multi-case display of classic American coinage in the highest grades, my nose almost touching the case glass. "Do you like what you see?" asked a formally-dressed elderly man about 5' 6" who was looking over my shoulder. He introduced himself as Harold Bareford, the owner of the display.

The name meant nothing to me at the time, but he sure had great coins - classic early federal coinage I aspired to own someday...and now do. In 1961-62, R.L. Miles had his entire collection on display on this balcony. Word was, and as evidenced by many of the early copper coins on display, Miles cleaned most of his coins - an all-too-common occurrence in those days when toning was out and "bright" was in. Shortly thereafter, Miles auctioned his extensive U.S. collection thru Stack's.

I have seen two sizes of the same design, with the smaller being much more available than the larger. Both made of the same bronze or whatever composition the metal is. I mention this because I do not recall having read any reference to a second size, but I have absolute knowledge of this.

A word about the suggestion for a Bush "shoe throwing medal" in last week's E-Sylum. We should be careful on injecting political references in E-Sylum topics. Someone will take it the wrong way. I know you qualified the comments, but your comparison of the circumstances resulting in the production of the Huey Long Toilet Seat Medal and the shoe throwing incident with the President is loose at best.

Long was most likely punched out by a disgruntled citizen. Further, it would not be unreasonable to assume that Long may have said something in the bathroom to deserve his treatment. The circumstances surrounding the Baghdad incident are hardly similar. We may certainly disagree on the reasons for the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, but at least a vote was taken in Congress, and it appears for now that no payoffs or bribes were involved in the process. Also, the shoe thrower was most likely not a US citizen, and probably motivated by his own agenda.

We should try to keep the E-Sylum apolitical. The next time you have an "opportunity to discuss one of [your] favorite medals," you might think about keeping the motivation free from politics.

But since you brought it up, how about a "Free Construction Medal" in honor of the great Senator from Alaska. Or, who wouldn't like a Cheney "Shotgun Medal"? How about an Illinois governor's medal commemorating "Pay for Play"? Then of course, we could design a New York Governor medal of.......well, we probably don't want to go there.

Any "Heroism" Medal should go to President Bush for his quick reflexes and good sense of humor over this incident. Had the "heroic" journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi dared throw a shoe at Saddam Hussein, neither Mr. al-Zaidi, nor his family, would be around today to receive any such recognition.

This article may be of interest for The E-Sylum. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they use large quantities of Sac Dollars in Ecuador.

Somebody at the mint, perhaps tired of stubbing their toes on bags of Sac dollars in the vaults, had a brain storm and commencing on April 15, 2002 the U.S. began sending some $500 million of the unwanted dollar coins to Ecuador for use as circulating currency. And, wow, did they circulate! So much so that in less than a year they became the most popular currency item in the country."

Many uninformed Ecuadorians believe the central device on the obverse is that of an Ecuadorian woman from the mountains.

Civil War coins offer intriguing North and South subplots. Put in context of America’s worst war, the story of Confederate coins, US coins, Civil War tokens, and other Civil War money is described and illustrated.