Update--Pattern question--why were the dies for the J29-32 $5 thrown off a bridge crossing the Susqu

Longacre

I was reading through the new Judd Pattern book (edited by QDB), which I graciously received from Rick Kay. The book is great, and you get a lot of interesting detail in the footnotes. In particular, I was looking at J29-J32, which is private restrike of an 1804 $5. Being the student of numismatics that I am , I always read the footnotes. For this item, the book notes, "These dies survived until the late 1950s, when they were acquired by an Eastern rare coin firm as part of a large transaction and were subsequently discarded by throwing them off a bridge crossing the Susquehanna River."

This seems quite bizzare. Does anyone have any more information on this?

lathmach

Never heard this story, but if you can find out what bridge it was, I'll dig out my frog feet and snorkel and meet you there.

Ray

RKKay

I have no clue. If Andy doesn't know, I'd ask Saul Teichman.

JadeRareCoin

Possibly to prevent the dies from being used again and again to strike more coins? Dumping them into a large body of water would probably be sufficient to have them lost for ever. IMO as a coin dealer i would think that cancelling the dies and then restrikeing coins for collectors would have been a more befitting end to the dies then dumping them in a river.

Andrew

Longacre

Update: I still don't know the answer, but I will see if I can track down Saul T. as someone suggested. However, I do have a little more information. On my drive down to DC over Thanksgiving, I crossed the Susquehanna River! I didn't even realize it was in Maryland (for some reason I thought it was in Maine). The bridge crossing the river is rather nice and provides a nice view. The nearest town (to my knowledge) is Havre de Grace, which my in-laws stop at frequently and dine by the river. On my next trip to visit the relatives, maybe I will do some fishing I was going to tell Mrs. Longacre all about the river and the patterns that were thrown off, etc., but I didn't feel like getting the "I can't believe what a nerd you are" look.

sellsatan

Good to hear I'm not the only one that gets that look.

MrEureka

Anyone care to guess where I went for a swim last week? Here's a clue.

jayboxx

You went for a swim in the United States of America?