I was interested to read in The E-Sylum the excerpt from Maurice Gould (1949) about the Boston Masonic Hall 1864 engraved half dollars. I obtained one of these nearly 30 years ago (from whom I cannot remember) as a curiosity for a small price. At the time, prevailing literature indicated that (as Gould said) a group of 1864 half dollars were recovered from the ruins of the Boston Masonic Temple, which was destroyed by fire in April 1864, and engraved as souvenirs.

As time wore on, it became clear something was wrong with this conclusion. Specie payments had been suspended in 1861 - there were no 1864 half dollars circulating in Boston in April of 1864 and thus none could have found their way willy-nilly into the Temple. Some years back this mystery was solved when a newspaper article was located that indicated clearly that the melted and damaged Masonic silver accoutrements (hollow-ware, trophies, regalia) were recovered from the Temple. This silver was then sent to the Mint in Philadelphia and struck into 1864 half dollars (the only way one could get Civil War dated Philadelphia issues was to provide one's own silver to the Mint for such strikings). Some of the 1864 half dollars struck from coin silver from melted Masonic regalia were then engraved and sold as souvenirs, making this particular item one of the very first real commemorative coins struck at the Mint!