Crews searching for Richmond Virginia Robert E. Lee statue 1887 time capsule

Oh Well. Better to stop now as that pedestal is HUGE.

 

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Historically speaking, there was far less animosity after the civil war, particularly between the combatants, than we find in our modern world. Grant, Lee, Sherman, Forrest and others had a sense of respect for one another. For years there were Civil War reunions where old soldiers from both sides freely mingled. It was a different world.

 

Any person with a reasonable knowledge of the subject person would have quickly figured out that said person would have been completely off put by being so memorialised as he said after the war that it was not a time to build monuments but to heal the country. Nor do I believe that the subject of the monument - a very modest personage, would desire that a macabre photograph be so placed in a monument - that he would not have wanted in the first place.

 

It's my understanding that the cornerstone at the second San Francisco Mint, "The Grey Lady," has never been found. It was supposed to contain an 1870-S Three Dollar Gold Piece. It looks like a mint employee snagged it and used it as a watch fob before it got into the stone.

 

No comment on the why or when removal, but it would have been cool for them to have found the time capsule. Wonder if it was placed inside the base?

 

Perhaps it suffered the same fate as the missing gold of Fort Knox..

 

I could see the newspaper reporting a false location for the capsule. The city may have gave out false information to keep it safe.
At this point, I don't see a good reason to keep any of the base of the statue. I wish they would just clear the ground until the capsule is found and stick it somewhere that would make the public happy. Maybe use the stones to build a home for the new capsule. Something that would bring people together and end all the anger.
I know I'm dreaming.

 

From what I can find, there is only one confirmed photo of Lincoln dead, from a distance when he was lying in state. I see a lot of stories about the History Channel one but nothing absolute. I did find this: "historian and Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer previously told the AP that the image is more likely to be a lithographic print of the former president lying in state or a sketch."

 

Here is the original list of items placed in the cornerstone. 4th column, starting near the bottom and continuing in 5th column:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038614/1887-10-26/ed-1/seq-1/

Numismatic items (to save your eyesight) plus the original reference to the photo:

Twelve copper coins
Confederate treasury notes
Photograph-copy of Confederate cent and $100,000 Confederate bond, registered
$1 Confederate note
English penny of 1812
"Miss Pattie Leake, picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin"
Assortment of United States silver and copper coins
One United States silver dollar, 1886
Assortment of United States fractional coins

So we know what year the dollar coin was - 1886. I notice that the price of the newspaper was three cents - another reason for the 3c coin?

 

Crews may have found 1887 time capsule while removing base of Gen. Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, Virginia

CBS News article:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1887-time-capsule-robert-e-lee-statue-base-richmond-virginia

Crews working to remove the pedestal where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee towered over Richmond for more than a century believe they've found a time capsule that was buried there in 1887. Governor Ralph Northam's office said it appears to be largely undamaged,

 

I can't wait to see what they find inside.

 

Ah, but *what* 1886 Morgan?

At the time, mintmark's were rarely even noticed by collectors. It could be a proof 1886 (p) or one of the semi-key 1886-S Morgans in high grade: both would be worth quite a bit (in addition to their association value).

I'm curious about who has ownership of the items in a time capsule. If the demolition crew is a private company, can they establish salvage rights? Or does the owner of the statue also own all contents of the plinth/base?

And "12 copper coins" is rather vague. A few 18th century coppers or Confed trial strikes or even rare Civil War tokens could also be worth a "pretty penny"

 

I did some construction work on several historic buildings in my city. It was made abundantly clear to me that any artifacts that turned up during construction were the property of the state. I would suspect that a similar agreement is in place with this box.

 

I was reading today's newspaper, the copper box was inside a niche in the middle of a granite stone, placed fairly high up in the pedestal, and mortared over. No apparent moisture penetration so hopefully the contents are intact.
I agree that R.E. Lee would never have wanted statues of him anywhere; but these were placed years after his death in service of "The Lost Cause."

 

It will definitely be interesting to see what the coins all are. As a time capsule I would expect nothing that was considered having collector value at the time, but rather more pedestrian circulating coins.

 

Say they put in a set of 1887 coins made for circulation. Being on the east coast they would almost certainly be Philadelphia issues. The 1887 three cent, quarter, and half dollar would not have been considered to really have "collector value" at the time.

 

Supposed to be opened today.

 

Looks very very small,maybe a bunch of old coins.

 

WDBJ is live with the opening now. Wow that box looks really small considering the list of stuff that's supposed to be in there.