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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 8264843, member: 101855&quot;]Heritage auctions had its DeWitt sale of political items this week. The prices realized were &quot;aggressive&quot; to the least. Many items went for way more than they would have gone for in other venues. I was able to buy one piece I had wanted for years and purchased a second one at strong prices.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a Zachary Taylor from his 1848 campaign. This is the piece that was plated in the DeWitt book, which was published in 1959. The piece matches up with the picture in the book except that it has a lot more corrosion or &quot;tin pest.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1458047[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1458048[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>When I was a young collector, collectors who were my father&#039;s age told me that tin pest could not be stopped. Once it started to grow on a piece it continued. I have found that if you store the piece under climate controlled conditions that it can be checked. If you return it to unstable conditions, it starts up again.</p><p><br /></p><p>The interesting aspects of this piece are the Liberty Seated design and the slogan, &quot;Untrammelled with party / obligations.&quot; Zachary Taylor was a military general and one of the two heroes of the Mexican War. Winfield Scott was the other one. Taylor had never voted in a presidential election, and he may not have voted in the 1848 election when he was a candidate.</p><p><br /></p><p>This piece has been on my want list for 30 years. It might be the only survivor. But, given the tin pest issue, I was only willing to pay perhaps $800 for it. It went for $3,850. I can only hope that the new owner will know how to store it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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