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Coins in Court: Recent Trials Involving Numismatics or Bullion

Last week, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was charged with bribery, honest services fraud and extortion among other corruption-related crimes, marking a second such indictment since 2015.

The powerful Senator, who until the indictment hit, chaired the Foreign Relations Committee, is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes and gifts in exchange for using his influence and connections to protect and secure favorable treatment for three businessmen with ties to the Egyptian government. The alleged bribes include cash, a luxury car, help with a home mortgage, compensation for low-or-no-show jobs and, gold bullion.

“Menendez performed a web search for ‘how much is one kilo of gold worth.’ As discussed herein, multiple gold bars provided by [co-defendant Fred] Daibes were found during the court-authorized June 2022 search of Menendez and [co-defendant and Menendez’s wife] Nadine Menendez’s residence,” the indictment reads.

(Spoiler alert: one kilo of gold is worth an awful lot of money.)

The Menendez prosecution isn’t the first time numismatics and/or bullion have played a central role in a court case. Here are some of the more notable recent examples:

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The U.S. Trade Dollar: An Accessory to the ‘Crime of 1873.’

Sometimes, it takes a while for people to get outraged about a law.

Maybe it’s all of the legalese — for instance, it is not the case that double negatives are unacceptable in drafting legal documents.

Maybe it’s the arcane parliamentary procedure that only C-SPAN junkies have the wherewithal to comprehend or stomach. Heck, even C-SPAN gets bored during quorum calls and starts playing background music.

Or maybe it’s not always apparent what a law’s effects will be until it’s been in effect for a few years.

That was the case with the Coinage Act of 1873 (also known as the Fourth Coinage Act). A few years after its enactment, the law would become known as the “Crime of 1873” and helped spawn a powerful political movement that influenced multiple presidential elections.

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The Silver (Gold, Copper and Nickel) Screen: Coin Collecting and Pop Culture

Numismatics have long been an important trope in pop culture, and it’s not hard to see why.

For one thing, coins can be worth a lot of money, making them a good plot device for heist movies, crime dramas and treasure hunts.

For another, they can serve as historical documents, adding credibility to period pieces or providing a glimpse into yesteryear from the present.

And of course, they look good on screen, giving the actors, to say nothing of the audience, something striking to look at.

These are just a few of the many movies, TV shows and plays in which numismatics play an important role.

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Some Pittsburgh Sports Coins for Yinz*

* Yinz – A western-Pennsylvania bastardization of the phrase “you ones”, which addresses more than one person.

With 17 professional championships, Pittsburgh may not be Titletown, USA (that would be New York City, with 65 as of early 2023), but it’s definitely punching above its weight. Yinzertown has won more titles than several much larger cities and markets, including Atlanta, Denver, Houston, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Miami, and Baltimore (suck it, Ravens!). Not bad, considering Pittsburgh only has three of the four major sports (although an old ABA franchise, The Pittsburgh Pipers, did win a championship in 1968 behind the legendary Connie Hawkins).

Obviously, the bulk of these championships have come from the Steelers (sorry Stillers), Pirates (Buccos) and Penguins (Pens). Between the Steel Curtain Steelers of the 70s and the modern-day teams under Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin, the “We Are Family” Pirates teams of the 70s, and the Stanley Cup Penguins teams of the early 90s and 2010s, plenty of titles and many legendary players have passed through the Steel City. And, thanks to various mints, there have been plenty of coins made honoring said teams and players.

Here are a few of the ones I’ve collected over the years:

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Runneth Over: A Few World Cup Coins

The upcoming FIFA World Cup will make history in several ways.

It will be the first tournament to take place in November-December, disrupting the European club season.

It will also be the first World Cup to take place in the Middle East, and the first to take place in an Arabic country.

One thing that won’t be a break with precedent? There will be plenty of coins issued to commemorate the event. FIFA, the Central Bank of Qatar, and various countries have already made some available for sale and there are probably a lot more out there.

I’ve acquired a few World Cup coins over the years. Read all about them below:

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Some of My Hard Times Tokens (Gallery)

I’ve enjoyed collecting Hard Times Tokens for many years now. There’s something about the combination of politics, history and numismatics that really appeals to me. Between the ongoing slavery debate, rising sectional tensions, fiscal and economics questions relating to the Bank of the United States, and some truly fascinating personalities, these tokens provide an glimpse into an interesting and difficult time in American history.

I’ve written about some of these tokens in the past, and I have several more in my collection that have interesting stories behind them.

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We Hardly Knew Ye…

When you become leader of a country, state, republic, kingdom, empire or territory whose legal status is in dispute, one thing is for sure: your face will appear on coins — both official and unofficial ones.

That’s the case even if your reign lasts about as long as Chevy Chase’s career as a late night talk show. Or Mötley Crüe’s retirement. Or Richard Nixon‘s forced exit from politics after his infamous “Last Press Conference.”

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Joining the 500 Club

Woohoo! Happy to report that Nixon in New York has hit 500 libraries (501, actually) throughout the world! (I took a screenshot for posterity). Some of the highlights:

  • All of three of my alma maters have the book in their libraries (in the interests of full disclosure, I requested it at two of the three schools).
  • I’m in seven out of eight Ivy League schools. (Come on, Dartmouth! What are you waiting for?)
  • I’m in two out of the three “Little Three” schools. (Thanks for nothing, Wesleyan!)
  • Other than the U.S, I’m in libraries in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Curaçao, Cyprus, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
  • I’m in community colleges, theological/biblical seminaries, military academies, historical societies, public and private universities and law schools.
  • I’m in both of Richard Nixon’s alma maters: Whittier College, which is where he went for undergrad, and Duke University, which is where he went for law school.
  • I’m in Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at NYU, which is appropriate, given how important Bobst was for Nixon during his Wilderness Years.

Anyway, it’s nice to see — especially since I was at 125 a couple of months ago. Here’s to the next 500!

Some of My Early Commemorative Coins (Gallery)

I enjoy collecting early commemorative U.S. coins (1892-1954) and I’ve written about some of them in the past. I enjoy these coins due to the level of detail on them and the beautiful, classical designs that give them a real vintage feel. The Bay Bridge, California Diamond Jubilee and Texas commemoratives are some of the most aesthetically pleasing coins I’ve ever seen.

Plus, some of these coins have great stories behind them.

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When Mitchell Met Nixon (Book Excerpt)

In honor of the premiere of Gaslit, the Watergate-era drama starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn as Martha and John Mitchell, enjoy an excerpt from Nixon in New York looking at the origins of what was, arguably a far more consequential relationship for John.

At first glance, John Newton Mitchell wasn’t an obvious choice for campaign manager. The bald-headed, gruff-mannered, perpetually pipe-smoking bond lawyer had never even worked on a political campaign before, let alone run one. Unlike many of Nixon’s political intimates, Mitchell had no longstanding relationship with the former vice president—they had met, briefly, during Nixon’s congressional days but didn’t get to know each other until after Nixon moved to New York.

It wasn’t even clear what Mitchell’s political ideology was, let alone whether it was consistent with Nixon’s. In a 1973 profile of Mitchell in the New York Post, one longtime associate couldn’t recall ever having a single political conversation with him. In fact, he could have easily gone to work for the Democrats. Mitchell’s former press secretary, Jack Landau, would reveal in 1993, five years after his old boss’s death, that Mitchell had been offered an interesting opportunity in 1960: helping run Jack Kennedy’s campaign. According to Landau, Bobby Kennedy had met with Mitchell and tried to convince his fellow future attorney general to join the team. Mitchell demurred, but years later, after everything that had happened with Nixon, he seemed to have second thoughts. “If I had it all over to do,” Mitchell said with a smile on his face, “I’d run Jack Kennedy’s campaign.”

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The Big 2-5-0

America’s semiquincentennial is coming up. Or is it a sestercentennial? Or bicentennial-and-a-quarter?

Whatever you want to call it, it’s America’s 250th birthday. Planning commissions are already meeting to figure how to properly commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. If history is any guide, commemorative coins will be part of those plans.

Will it be like 1876, when the U.S. Mint produced an official centennial medal? Or will it be like 1926, when it produced a sesquicentennial commemorative half dollar? Or 1976, when it produced new bicentennial reverse designs for circulating quarters, half-dollars and dollar coins?

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Why Isn’t There a Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Coin?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has his own holiday (although some states have combined it with holidays recognizing people who were antithetical to his beliefs and teachings).

He has his own postage stamps.

He has schools, monuments, songs and in most cities, he has his own street — although those roadways don’t always have the best rep. (As Chris Rock once said: “Martin Luther King stood for non-violence. Now what’s Martin Luther King? A street. And I don’t care where you live in America. If you’re on Martin Luther King Blvd, there’s some violence going down!”)

One thing he doesn’t have is a U.S. Mint-issued coin. Why is that?

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The Olympics: A Great Excuse for Commemorative Coins

Here are some things that are almost always true of the modern Olympic Games:

  • They’re really expensive and end up costing the host city a fortune.
  • For two weeks, the Olympic Village turns into a scene from Caligula.
  • The host country will always issue commemorative coins.

As the 2020(1) Summer games wind down, I thought I’d show off some of my Olympic coins:

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