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January 15, 2012, a date soon to be upon us is actually a very important date. It is the 150th anniversary of the date that President Abraham Lincoln appointed Edwin McMasters Stanton to be his Secretary of war. Stanton replaced Simon Cameron who was dismissed by Lincoln for including in his yearly report the call of freed slaves to be armed and used against the Confederate Army. Stanton was Lincoln's closest adviser during the Civil War. Lincoln described Stanton as “the rock on the beach of our national ocean against which the breakers dash and roar, dash and roar without ceasing.

Edwin McMasters Stanton and January 15

I never claimed to be a writer, and I still don’t even though and I co-wrote with John Schwartz the “Standard Guide to Small Size U.S. Currency, 1928 to Date”. My writing ‘education’ consists of one course in “Free Writing” taught by Professor Nelson at the illustrious Minot State University, where I earned a four year business degree after dropping out of the geology program because my brain was impermeable to higher math. Prof.

The recent Stack’s Bowers Galleries official auction of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Baltimore Expo on November 15 to 19, 2011 netted $15.6 million in total sales. Among the paper money highlights were a cache of 19 obsolete bank notes from Minnesota, four of which are unique and six more that are semi-unique. Practically all the notes are at the top of their census for condition. Described by cataloger Bruce R. Hagen as some of the most exceptional obsolete notes to cross his desk, the notes are nothing less than spectacular in their rarity, beauty and condition.

$3 Bank of Austin, exhibiting the patent lathe work of Cyrus Durand.

How it went...

Friday and Saturday were the days of the new Wall St. Bourse show run by John Herzog at the Museum of
American Finance. Many of us had a lot of fun at the old Strasburg, Pa show in years gone by and this was John's vision to recreate that community here in New York City. I believe he was successful. It was a great show, from the logistics handling, to the dinner at the famous India House, through to solid attendance of true buyers at the show itself.