Back in 1972 I was one of four University of Michigan students who hoped to be among the first settlers of the Republic of Minerva. The project ultimately fell through from two problems. 1) An ocean-going tug in New York harbor that was to have transported some of us exploded and sank. 2) The king of Tonga took a crew of criminals to the Minerva reefs to build a shelter and then laid claim that the reefs were part of Tonga. A Canadian supporter of the Minerva settlement project offered the King $25 million to build a state of the art television broadcast station for Tonga if the king would relinquish claims to Minerva, but the king never accepted the offer.

Back to the coins. There was only one issue, a $35 coin dated 1973 mostly struck in pure silver but with a pure gold overlay of the goddess Minerva on the obverse. The initial mintage was 8,500 pieces by the Letcher Mint in Lancaster, California. A few years later, a libertarian publisher named Robert Kephart paid to have 2,000 more pieces struck and acquired the dies used to strike them.

Because of my interest in the Minerva project, Liberty Coin Service has bought and sold hundreds of these coins over the decades. In the early 1980s, Kephart offered to sell us the dies but no deal was ever made. Presumably the dies are out there somewhere in private hands.

The use of specific bibles is a part of the myth; the paper came not from bibles but was ordered by a local trader. One of the paper rounds shows a text fragment from the Latin Bible. Probably not the complete text from the Bible but a comment. The round is made from Matheus 7 vs. 16-17 etc. I know this because it is a headline in capitals in the early 16th century print (or late 15th century) and not the passages from the bible-chapter.

Outside the box collections to consider: In regards to a different way to consider collecting we recently had a client that came up with a different way to consider collecting. Yes, first year of issue collecting is somewhat of a common way to collect however this collectors goal was to go for any issues that have the same date in a last year of issue as well as the subsequent first year.

For example 1909 Indian cents & 1909 Lincoln cents, 1916 mercury 10c & 1916 barber 10c. 1873 Trade & seated dollars & the list goes on. Some more challenging than others, Then there is always 1913 Buffalo 5c & (well good luck this one) 1913 Liberty nickels.

This could be a fun collecting challenge depending on grade & budget.