Quote from bill on January 7, 2015, 9:21 am

Hi again. I mentioned in my previous post that there might be a fourth piece that could be included as an early so called dollar. It is an 1834 piece commemorating the Shakespearean actor, Edwin Forrest(see image). If I could wave a magic wand and slip it into HK, it would fit nicely into Section C(page 145 HK). The obverse inscription is in latin. The reverse inscription is from Othello and essentially means that the man is held in high regard. In the first part of the 19th century, the Theater was extremely popular. In 1849, in a dispute about who was the best actor, Forrest or his English rival, a riot ensued that cost the lives of about two dozen people. So people took this Theater business pretty seriously. The medal shown here is from the John Ford auction #9(May 10, 2005) lot #41. You can view the auction at: http://www.stacksarchive.com/calendar.php?past=1(Click on the Stacks May 2005 New York Auction). It is noteworthy that this medal is listed in the same auction right after HK4, and that the Jenny Lind piece is lot #45, HK1 is #56 and HK589 is lot#64. One negative about this Forrest medal as a so called dollar might be that it does not commemorate an actual event, only the person. But of course there were many stage events associated with him. My feeling about personal medals are that it should be a person of strong national significance to be included as a so called dollar. At the time, Edwin Forrest was just such a man. Two examples of personal medals that are in Julian's US Mint medal book that are similar in nature to the Edwin Forrest medal are PE-1 (Page 200) and PE-15 (Page 211). But both these two medals are of individuals who are more obscure(especially one of them), and it appears that one of the main reasons that they had medals made was because they had connections inside the mint. Personally I would not include either of them. Any comments? Another consideration in the same John Ford auction are lots #42, 43, and 44 - the Tom Thumb medals. Any comments about these for inclusion? They also seem to fit as personal medals, and are more significant. They may be a bit advertising in nature being associated with PT Barnum and all, but maybe that should make no difference. They would also fit into Section C I guess. Jenny Lind's appearance in New York was also a PT Barnum promotion. What became clearer to me when I looked into early so called dollar possibilities, was how important public events associated with famous individuals were prior to the civil war. This includes the 1860 Heenan-Sayers boxing match. Entertainment is something we all take for granted today. There are SO many possibilities ? fairs, museums, concerts, movies, sports, television, you name it. Back before the worlds fairs, public live events involving famous performers were sometimes all there was.