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LOOSE CHANGE: AUGUST 8, 2021Here are some additional items in the media this week that may be of interest. -Editor This week I came across a blog article by Houston dealer Carl Hahn on the 1861-O Seated Liberty half dollar minted at New Orleans under three separate governments - the United States, Louisiana, and the Confederate States of America. -Editor 
Through an exhaustive evaluation of 1861-O half dollars, Randy Wiley and Bill Bugert have identified fifteen die marriages for 1861-O coins and assigned a coining authority and estimated population to each. By their estimations, there are approximately 55,000 half dollars minted under the authority of the US Mint in January of 1861. The Republic of Louisiana minted approximately 1,240,000 half dollars between January 26 and March 21 and the Confederate States of America coined an additional 962,633 half dollars thereafter. Likely the coinage of the half dollar continued at the New Orleans mint until the reserve of bullion was exhausted.
To read the complete article, see:
The 1861-O Half has a complicated but fascinating story. The 1933 Double Eagle is much more complicated, since the story extends far beyond the striking of the coins through all the subsequent events over the years, the latest being the recent record-breaking auction. An article by Greg Reynolds on the Greysheet blog discusses the intricacies of bidding at the Sotheby's sale. See the full article for a discussion of
By being the irrevocable bidder, the buyer was able to pay $18,872,250, rather than $19,509,750. If the underbidder had been the successful bidder, he would have had to pay $19,222,500, more than the winning bidder paid with a higher hammer price. How could this be?
To read the complete article, see:
The piece on the bidding intricacies is a sidebar to Reynolds' larger article analyzing auctions of the 1933 Double Eagles, where he teases a later article questioning whether the recently auctioned piece was actually the Farouk specimen. -Editor I am not now referring to the Fenton-Weitzman 1933 double eagle as the Farouk Collection 1933 double eagle. While this coin may have earlier been in the collection of King Farouk, I am not convinced that it was so. In part 2, I will analyze evidence regarding the pedigree of this coin. An overriding point is that the Fenton-Weitzman coin is the only 1933 double eagle that officials of the U.S. Treasury Department have agreed not to ever attempt to seize. Stephen Fenton purchased this coin in 1995. Before this double eagle was first auctioned in July 2002, it was agreed that Fenton and the U.S. Treasury department would split the proceeds of a public sale after auction fees were deducted. Next month, I examine the evidence that the Fenton-Weitzman 1933 is the same as the Farouk Collection 1933. Later, I shed light upon the pedigree of another 1933 double eagle, which was owned by famous collectors over the last fifty years.
To read the complete article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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