Paul Horner's questions and Julia Casey's potential answers have initiated some further discussion. -Editor

"The reference to Gobrecht's large eagle with expanded wings for a Philadelphia token originates from The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians Now Deceased (Henry Simpson, 1859). The exact quote is Mr. Gobrecht executed in brass the dies for embossing the morocco covers for the Boston Token from 1831 to 1836, and a die of Trinity Church, Boston, for the cover of a Paragraph Bible. Also a large eagle with expanded wings for a Philadelphia Token, and a fanciful design first used by himself for a card, and afterwards, with the lettering taken out, for a book cover.

"I've wondered whether the Philadelphia Token refers to GW-130 to GW-133, tokens produced for the Washington birth centennial civic procession held in Philadelphia in 1832. Examples were distributed during the procession, from a horse-drawn wagon that carried the coining press. (Variants and restrikes of these tokens are legion; thank goodness for Neil Musante who has brought order to the chaos.) However, given the context of the original quote, Julia's thought that this in fact refers to The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, a Philadelphia publication (1828-1842), may well be correct."

"I searched around some more and I will add this to the circumstantial evidence: Gobrecht was connected to the Atlantic Souvenir for 1827, the issue when the eagle cover was made. Here are a couple newspaper clippings. And also a clearer image of the eagle from the cover."

"I'm inclined to agree with Julia on the Philadelphia token issue. He probably made dies to emboss the covers of the book. I had a couple of these at one point. There's an interesting reference but I can't quite remember the title, "From Peacocks to Pigeon Feathers" or something."

"Edwin Wolf II catalogued embossed book covers (including some by Gobrecht) in From Gothic Windows to Peacocks (1990)."