I read with interest your article. I noticed that you had posted a question there as in regards to copyrights of the images used for the New Liberty Dollar silver piece. Thank you for asking this. The copyrighted images are used with permission from the copyright holder.

If you have any additional questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Although I am not inclined to disclose my business partners without first discussing it with them, I can tell you that I have the utmost respect for them and they were carefully selected after extensive research both on the parts of the manufacturing that are not done in house, and the licensing of the images which were not created in house.

I am personally responsible for the design, but have received the benefit of a great number of experts in the field of numismatics, mintmasters, and of course the careful study of the design characteristics and philosophic rationale for the Original Liberty Dollars. The Original Liberty Dollar's magnificent design was the pinnacle of a career of design and monetary architecture by one of the greatest mintmasters of our time. If I could have made it exactly the same, that's what I would have done. As it turns out, I had the additional benefit of an array of legal counsel who assisted in analyzing every element of the design and its bearing on the still-as-yet-unsettled case against Mr. Von NotHaus.

I maintain the fundamental belief that von Nothaus was and is not guilty of any crime, but in all things, I respect and follow the advice of my attorneys on these matters of communication, distribution and design.

Consequently although we have advanced the production process where we can handle very large quantities, we have not yet opened for retail distribution and still only provide these silver pieces to qualified and contracted wholesale distributors. We are not making it very easy to buy these. Not yet at least. My apologies go out to those that have tried to buy them and been thwarted by our process.

We are reluctant to release any totals of production for the current year as they are still flowing out more each week, and we will make as many as folks want, but for our 2012 issue, only 1501 were made. Many/most were not presentable. Only a very few have been released as most all of them were simply stored as bullion by one of the bullion purchasers who was instrumental in advising us. They may have been melted down for all I know. We did retain a few and have sold them to select individuals who have been helpful in testing our distribution process.

Thank you again for your interest in New Liberty Dollars.