The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 45, November 5, 2006, Article 12

TAYLOR AND SCOTT MEDALS, "CAL" QUARTER EAGLES - SAME GOLD BATCH?

Regarding the 1848 "CAL" Quarter Eagles, Ron Guth writes: "Mint
Director Robert Maskell Patterson's January 5, 1849 letter appears
to contradict the earlier instructions of Secretary of War William L.
Marcy, who transmitted 228 ounces of newly mined California gold to
the U.S. Mint to be used to strike Congressional medals for Zachary
Taylor and Winfield Scott, with the leftover gold to be turned into
specially marked Quarter Eagles.  Who is right: Patterson or Marcy?
The answer may rest in the medals and coins themselves.  Assuming
one each of the Taylor and Scott medals, and that the medals were
of the same size, we have the following tabulation:

Taylor Medal (known weight) = 621 grams
Scott Medal (assumed weight) = 621 grams
1,389 "CAL" Quarter Eagles (4.18 grams each) = 5,806 grams
Total weight = 7,048 grams

7,048 grams equals 226.6 troy ounces -- tantalizingly close to
the amount of gold sent by Marcy!"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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