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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BRandM, post: 2215125, member: 22729&quot;]I like to help when I can, Krow. I&#039;ve been researching and collecting these things longer than I care to remember. It&#039;s a passion of mine. The history is what attracts me. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of identifying the issuers of these historic pieces, or deciphering phrases or symbols people have seen fit to record on a coin or token. There are literally tens of thousands of issues known, and many times that that remain unrecorded.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>When researching a stamp with initials and surname only, an attribution is very difficult. You have nothing more to go on other than the name. While not a common surname, Link is far from being rare. I would hazard a guess that if you looked hard enough you would come across dozens of P.H. Links in historical records. It&#039;s happened to me many times in the past. I recall once trying to trace a man named William Long. Amazingly, I got over 40,000 hits during my investigation. It&#039;s one of the few times I gave up looking for an issuer.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Getting back to your coin. I did a general internet search for &quot;P.H. Link and came up with very little. I checked patent records, cemetery listings, etc., but got nowhere. I decided to work with the first initial, &quot;P&quot;. The most likely name starting with a &quot;P&quot; in my estimation would be Philip or Paul. I found two Philip H. Links on the internet, but they were too late historically to be viable candidates. I would estimate that your stamp was struck in the late 1850s, but not much later. Large Cents didn&#039;t circulate much after about 1860.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I&#039;m guessing Link struck the coin as a personal piece. It&#039;s a bit sloppy to be a merchant token or to advertise a business. He probably carried it with him for a time. It&#039;s anybody&#039;s guess how it got in the water. Maybe an irate girl friend or wife. You know how vindictive women can be. lol</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The best sources to investigate are city directories, Federal Census records, and the pay site Ancestry.com. Ancestry is very expensive, but you can sign up for a monthly membership if you want to get serious about searching for Link. I&#039;ll keep looking, Krow, and let you know if I find any possibilities. The hunt continues! Good luck.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Bruce[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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