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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;messydesk, post: 2503545, member: 1765&quot;]My ears were burning, so I figure I&#039;ll respond.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the slogans used by the ANA is and/or has been &quot;History in Your Hands.&quot;&nbsp; To wit, the possibilities of tying coins to historic events are endless, and I won&#039;t try to list very many possibilities.</p><p><br /></p><p>Significant &quot;history of the world&quot; events in the US that are observable in coins also include the California gold rush, leading to all these territorial gold coins and eventually the establishment of the San Francisco mint.&nbsp; The 1848 &quot;CAL&quot; $2.50 or the 1854-S $5, both quite valuable, would be great coins to feature here.&nbsp; You can follow this through to the discovery of the Saddle Ridge hoard.</p><p><br /></p><p>The story of the coining of the Morgan dollar (designed by a young British engraver who was invited to Philadelphia and eventually became Chief Engraver) would also be a good one, as it is a coin that is attainable for almost anyone.&nbsp; Its existence owed to the silver mining booms and laws that the government was to buy silver and coin dollars.&nbsp; The affect of the Pittman Act was already mentioned and ties closely with world history as mentioned.</p><p><br /></p><p>You mention Sir Isaac Newton&#039;s modernization of the mint, but he was preceded by modernization efforts of Nicholas Briot, which were cut short during the Civil War in the 1640s when he left England and sent his presses back to France, then resumed by Peter Blondeau in 1656, ending the millenia-old hammered coinage era within a few years, and paving the way for Newton&#039;s continued modernization.</p><p><br /></p><p>The New Orleans contemporary counterfeit Morgan dollars make a fascinating story, but much of the story of their origin is purely conjecture, not based on evidence other than &quot;reading the coins.&quot;&nbsp; If my theory involving the New Orleans mob is correct, it would make a good detective story and touch on the history of the Mafia in the US. When presenting it as an unsolved mystery you need to make sure everyone understands it&#039;s an unsolved mystery.&nbsp; They also need to understand that just because a silver dollar has an O on it, it doesn&#039;t mean it&#039;s a counterfeit.&nbsp; We often have to reassure seasoned US collectors that certain &quot;micro O&quot; issues are authentic, so caution must be exercised when presenting this sort of thing to the general public.</p><p><br /></p><p>If we go back a few years, the Roman EID MAR denarius, arguably the most famous ancient coin there is, would be a great centerpiece for an episode.</p><p><br /></p><p>When the weather turns nasty, head to the South Pacific and do a story on Yap stones.</p><p><br /></p><p>Looking at a specific coin, there&#039;s the 1860 $20 that was given to a Confederate Lieutenant, George Dixon.&nbsp; He carried it in his pocket during the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 and the coin stopped a bullet.&nbsp; He later engraved it &quot;My Life Preserver.&quot;&nbsp; This is arguably the most famous coin connected with the US Civil War.</p><p><br /></p><p>And, yeah, the Martha Washington story is an old one, but it&#039;s a myth.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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