"Paul Horner asks a question to which all interested in Indian Peace Medals would like an answer! Simply put, I have traced a number of IPMs and the information regarding issuance is limited as is subsequent provenance information. For example, the journals of Lewis and Clark enumerate specific awards but the recipients are hard if not impossible to trace historically. They clearly documented award events but accurate names and tracing the medals longitudinally is tough; I know of only two from the Lewis and Clark expedition traced from recipient to recent times.

"Other sources might include any records from the official offices of the Indian departments but I have not reviewed them. I am also interested not only in who received the medals but how they felt about the "awards". I welcome any further insight beyond the standard texts and the excellent auction research done in Ford and subsequent auctions."

"As to there possibly being one or even several sources for the names and dates of recipients of silver Indian Peace medals, there is no such thing. There were as many as three different sizes of silver presentation medals and the smaller ones were given to less prominent chieftains and even warriors whose names and dates of presentation were totally inconsequential at the time. Not only that , but in many cases they were given in remote geographic locations where writing instruments / paper were not available.

"Any documentation of a name of an Indian Peace medal recipient, with a very few exceptions, would have to come from the proud Native American recipient himself or his immediate descendants and , in some cases , those identifications were primitively carved or engraved on the silver medals themselves"

Thanks, everyone. This is unfortunate, but makes sense given the situation and times. -Editor

"I'm still processing all the information on the Reakirt and his coins. I have a priced and named catalog of the Mickley sale, and Reakirt bought the three piece 1827 proof set for $160. I think that set is one of the most desirable items ever struck by the US Mint. How it could remain off the market for 100 years, and no one could be curious about its whereabouts is a mystery to me."

"I actually flew down to Athens GA to examine and bid on the Joseph Reakirt collection in 1963 and was greeted and had dinner with the Reakirt descendant family. I did acquire a gem proof 1857 flying eagle cent for, if memory serves, $750 (after calling Norman Stack for advice). I understood the Norweb family acquired many of the remaining coins including an original 1827 quarter, so if Kosoff allegedly acquired much (not all) of the collection, he was acting as an agent for Norweb."

Thanks, everyone. What a great collection. Without a named public sale catalog to memorialize it, it's largely forgotten today. Linked below is the August 2021 Stack's Bowers ANA auction lot description. The coin sold for $588,000. -Editor

"The NLG Awards Luncheon will take place at the upcoming World's Fair of Money on Thursday, August 18th promptly at 12:30 in Room 22. All active NLG members, especially those who made submissions, are invited. The event should take an hour and a half."

Many NBS members are also members of NLG. Good luck in the NLG Awards competition! -Editor

"Apropos Roger W. Burdette's plea that our illustrious members check their libraries for the missing Denver Mint die registry book for the years 1926 to 1938 (or so,) I would like to ask if by any chance any of our members have access to the Philadelphia and/or San Francisco Mint die records for 1922, plus or minus a few years?

Has anybody ever made a FOIA request for die information from either mint for this time period? If so, could you share the results with me?"

Can anyone help? -Editor

"The late Jerry Schimmel listed and pictured the reverse of this particular Nanking Inn counterstamped cash coin on page 81 of his book, Chinese American tokens from the Pacific Coast. He was not able to locate this establishment definitively but felt it was a US piece, possibly from a restaurant in Dayton, Ohio (page 116). A similar, but self-attributed piece, pictured here from the Lyon Hall & Co. in Baltimore reveals that counterstamping Chinese cash coins was practiced in the US (page 71). While this piece here was from his collection, Jerry actually illustrated a different example of the counterstamp on a cash coin identified as Yunnan (1796-1820). Rulau and Brunk also listed this counterstamp and suggest an 1880-1890 usage. Also on page 71, he lists this Gamsun Restaurant counterstamp as being from Boston and on a later (1890-1908) Guangdong cash. Jerry felt it was likely was counterstamped prior to World War 2 (page 111).

"I suspect that the host coin was likely random and depended on whatever the counterstamper could obtain. Also, while the bulk of Jerry's listings of Chinese American tokens are attributed or at least manufactured in California, Oregon and Washington State, he did not list any counterstamped cash coins from the western US."

Thank you! Interesting to see these. -Editor

"I've been trying to inform certain token collectors the meaning of blank and uniface as it applies to tokens – having a hard time! Does Dick Johnson's Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Terminology have those terms defined?"

Yes - entries for Blank and Uniface linked below. -Editor

"Thanks for these references.

"In my way of thinking, a token/medal with no striking on the reverse (struck one side only), the reverse is blank." However, if the reverse is struck with a border but no other marks/designs, then is what I call "uniface."

"Seems like I have seen such definition provided somewhere!"

"The Library Company of Philadelphia is holding a program that is sure to be of interest to some of us.

"It will be "Benjamin Franklin and the Making of Modern Money," to be held Tuesday, August 16th, with an in-person reception at 6:30 and a lecture beginning at 7:00 pm. It is a hybrid event that will cost $10 to participate. Here is the published blurb:

"In Philadelphia, we tend to think of Benjamin Franklin's legacy in terms of the institutions (like ours) that he helped to establish. In his lifetime, he was known mostly as a scientist, as the man who stole lightning from the skies. Today, around the world, Franklin is probably most recognized as the face on the $100 bill. His place there signifies that beyond his role as a diplomat, legislator, and scientist; he was very concerned with money itself and how it helps an economy function. Library Company of Philadelphia Edwin Wolf 2nd Director Michael Barsanti, Ph.D., will talk about Franklin and money – its role in his life and business, his arguments for the use of paper money, his innovations for making paper money more secure – but also how Franklin's work with money anticipated the current development of cryptocurrency."

Thank you. Remember, this is a hybrid physical/virtual members-only event, so interested readers can participate remotely. Just be sure to register and become a member if you aren't one already. Cost? One Benjamin. -Editor

"I saw this exhibit yesterday in the museum at Shiloh National Battlefield in Tennessee. Thought your readers may find this interesting!"

Absolutely. Thank you! -Editor