"In the February 18, 2024 issue you presented an article from Tom Hoke on "Mislabeled History - a Billion Dollar Mistake" and in addition there was a discussion of the buried Confederate gold mystery. You added that you would be interested in anything further - well, we might have something.

In our June 2012 column for The Numismatist, we wrote of such an event, used material from Tom Hoke's book, and some from the Philadelphia Inquirer, other sources and put it together. The title of the column was "Stolen Gold", and it was in depth on the mystery."

The Civil War story of murder, a Confederate deserter and a stash of coins raises some interesting questions.

IN APRIL 1863, the American Civil War was raging across a large portion of our beleaguered nation. At the time, Union forces were trying to take Brashear City, Louisiana, one of the many towns in contention. An interesting incident occurred there involving a Confederate soldier who had abandoned his unit and was arrested by Union troops as he crossed enemy lines. This deserter was discovered to have quite a hoard of U.S. coins, and the story he told to explain it is rather intriguing.

Thank you. The Numismatist piece references a March 28, 1863 Philadelphia Inquirer article with the soldier's buried gold story, but we were unable to relocate it. The date may be incorrect, or the article was republished in another paper. Rich and Nancy's library and files were lost in a fire. Interesting incident, which may or may not be connected to the New Orleans Mint. Here's how Rich and Nancy closed the article. -Editor

Whether any further search or inquiry was made concerning the buried gold and the Confederate soldier's unearthing of the double eagles remains a mystery. If the two incidents are somehow entwined, the Confederate soldier had in his possession several examples of a very valuable coin—the 1861-O double eagle, a piece that in today's market is worth about $125,000 in the lowest uncirculated grade, Mint State-60.

"Seeing the latest, that the mint doesn't plan to change the reverse designs on the one and five cent coins-just goofy date changes on the obverse, leave me wanting.

"The 250th anniversary looks to be a real humdinger. A once in a lifetime opportunity and we're only getting dual-dated coins. Wow! I'm so unimpressed. The one and five cent coins are like invited guests destined to eat at the kid's table.

"And thanks to PL116-330, Congress really shafted the public from any participation in submitting ideas. We are now to rely solely on the mint and their designers for the semiquincentennial coin designs. If we are to be treated to more great art like we have on the silver and gold eagle bullion coins then coin sales for the semiquincentennial coin sets will skyrocket-leaving the designs from the 1976 bicentennial in the dust. I can hardly wait."

I have to agree that these designs feel like a nothingburger. That's the best we can come up with for a 250 year anniversary? Hopefully this isn't the end of the story. What happened to the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 ? -Editor

Last week Roger Burdette asked about a 130-page 1906 monograph written by T. Louis Comparette. -Editor

"The text can be found beginning on page 65 of the 1905 US Mint report: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/514121.

"Although there is no title given, the match can be made from a notice in the January 1906 American Journal of Numismatics, p.68, which provides a few extracts. While the title given in AJN does not appear in the Mint Report, a comparison with the portion provided in AJN confirms the match. See the AJN notice here: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/511740."

"I may have found what Roger is looking for. This has nearly the same title as shown in the E-Sylum request. Seems to show the same is in the 1905-6 Treasurer's Report. Also in mint report?"

"I found a worldcat entry for Comparette's monograph, albeit a slight variation on the title, same date and pagination. The record is under the title Utility of a Cabinet of Historic Coins and according to Worldcat, the only library that has it is the Ohio History Center. He can find it through their catalog at www.ohiohistory.org/research."

"Thanks all! Would have been nice to find a printed copy in its original format, but these are good!"

As a bibliophile, I wholeheartedly agree. If anyone finds one, let us know. But perhaps it was never separately produced. -Editor

Last week I asked, "...why is the wing clipped?" -Editor

"The eagle's wing is not clipped. In both pictures, the tip of the wing is covered by the ribbon. In fact, if you look at both pictures, you will notice that the top of the "clipped" wing in the left picture slants downward from the top center curve of the medal. In the right picture, the "clipped" wing is straight across the top and, in fact, is above the top center curve of the medal."

Thanks. No medals were harmed in the production of this newsletter. -Editor