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First New Orleans silver dollar of 1879....More information and article added

RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited January 9, 2018 10:33AM in U.S. Coin Forum

The attached letter indicates the first silver dollar issued by the New Orleans Mint since 1860 was sent to Mrs. C. J. Nicholson of new Orleans on February 27, 1879. Has this coin ever been seen by coin collectors? Are there any descendants of Mrs. Nicholson available? What is the 'backstory' on this?

Original can be found in the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) database.

Comments

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭

    In the category of Trivia, and only matters if someone is going to do some deeper searching....But I read it as "Nicholson".

    Might be fruitful to see if she, or her husband, had some connection to the New Orleans Mint in the past?

    Probably lost/misplaced/spent in the passage of time....

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    You're right! Corrected.

  • boyernumismaticsboyernumismatics Posts: 473 ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 8, 2018 11:09AM

    My local dealer is a New Orleans Mint aficionado. He knows just about everything to do with the mint (it probably helps we live 20 minutes from it), and even owns the majority of the coins on display behind the acrylic in the mint itself. We're great friends and business acquaintances. I can run this by him and see if he knows anything.

    -edited to add parenthesis

  • mingotmingot Posts: 1,807 ✭✭✭

    Googled the name and found this link.

  • StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 8, 2018 4:16PM

    Ignore all of this, it's when we thought we were looking for "CJ" but it's actually E.J. - Identified in post below.

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
  • StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 8, 2018 1:07PM

    https://www.ngccoin.com/boards/topic/401898-new-orleans-mint-date-first-post-civil-war-coin-was-struck-updates/

    “The hopper was filled with planchets and the machinery set in motion, with click, click, click – and the first silver dollars, bright and new, were coined in the New Orleans Mint at the rate of eighty per minute.”

    Coins from this initial production were delivered by the Coiner on February 27 in the amount of $10,000. The first coin selected from this delivery was presented to Mrs. E. J. Nicholson, an owner of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper. The coin was accompanied by a signed certificate.

    • Roger, that was posted by you last fall 8-) So far, you are the best source for you hehe.

    • But... your NGC post says "E.J." and this letter seems to indicate "C.J."

    If it's "E.J." which makes more sense based on this:
    http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/orleans/bios/n-000004.txt

    Then ignore my post above, as we're barking up the wrong tree looking for a "C.J."

    Roger - another newspaper.com article about the presentation:
    view-source:https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/27312229/

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Naming of a married female back then probably just used the husband's name? "Mrs. John Smith". Seems pretty sexist by current standards...but even as a child in the 60's, I recall my mother being referred to by "Mrs. father's name"....

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Agh! Caught with my binders down! :)

    Thanks for the info. I'd forgotten about the old post. Given that the letter (above) was probably dictated, "C.J." and "E.J." might be thought of as near-equivalent phonemes.

  • StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,352 ✭✭✭✭✭

    LOL - you've outresearched yourself.

    As for your question of: "Are there any descendants of Mrs. Nicholson available? "

    With some googling, I can get to Eliza and George's great grandson(s) - one passed away. He has children as well, so there are living relatives.
    http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/01/leonard_kimball_nicholson_dire.html

    If I can find a contact method, I can shoot them an e-mail with a link to this thread. Might be neat to see the letter to their great-great-great Grandmother. See if there is any family history/lore to the coin.

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That would make a fascinating story!

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I really enjoy these posts Roger.....would be great if that coin was still in the family..... It might be...Cheers, RickO

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ricko said:
    I really enjoy these posts Roger.....would be great if that coin was still in the family..... It might be...Cheers, RickO

    Yeah, I may have been a bit pessimistic in my earlier post by assuming it has long ago been spent, lost, or forgotten. Just thinking about my own family, a completely "worthless" VF 1921 Morgan sat in my Mother's jewelry box for YEARS as a keepsake, and I still have it. One could certainly see a coin of greater significance being kept....even if that significance might be unknown at this point by the party keeping it.

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @TommyType ...Yes, and sometimes there may be an accompanying article such as the news item or the letter with it. These add significance to family treasures. Cheers, RickO

  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Member StrikeOutXXX located this article dated March 1, 1879 from the New Orleans Times Picayune.

  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Notice the attention paid to the coin and accompanying 'certificate' (probably the letter quoted in the first post). Also Mrs. Nicholson, now a widow, was referred to by her surname "Eliza."

    Given the description, I am encouraged that the coin and letter still exist - although maybe in a cigar box or scrapbook.

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 9, 2018 10:41AM

    Sweet! The "certificate" is the exact wording of the letter you posted!

    (Added: Posted at the same time as Roger. Didn't mean to essentially repeat his observation).

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Maybe StrikeOutXXX's sleuthing will turn up something very special!

  • StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 9, 2018 11:07AM

    @RogerB said:
    Maybe StrikeOutXXX's sleuthing will turn up something very special!

    Not sure - I did reach out to Eliza's Great-Great Granddaughter to see if she knows of any family history, lore, stories, or the whereabouts of the coin & letter. If I hear back from her, I'll post. There are a few other living family members - her mother who might know, an uncle, and a grandfather.

    In a perfect world, she tells me - yea, that's hanging on Grandpa's wall in a presentation frame with the coin or something - how cool would that be.

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Copy the newspaper article if you think that will help.

  • boyernumismaticsboyernumismatics Posts: 473 ✭✭✭✭

    My dealer did not know anything additional about this subject, but thought it was really neat! It looks like some of you have done some excellent digging and have come up with something very close. I hope we can hear back from the living relatives.

  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    StrikeOutXXX seems to have "the touch" for digging out useful information. We're all hoping the heirs respond and that it leads to the coin and letters.

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,623 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It could be fake news. Without the coin, and letter, we just can't be sure. Yet, the research, newspaper printing, and look into history fascinates me. As well; it helps us to see those" facts" (the news of the day, as it were) as presented. Stuff is always worth digging up, so to speak. And this would be a beautiful numismatic relic to find.

  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It would only be "fake news" if there were no objective information to support the event. If the story came out of one of Breen's books as an undocumented anecdote, then it could be dismissed as another of his fabrications.

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