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Zadok is apparently unaware of those who used the archives in the earlier days. Walter Breen was the first, probably starting about 1951. Walter Thompson did limited research in the mid-1950s but this was cut short by his death in a fire. Don Taxay and I started about the same time, the late 1950s, and Ken Bressett was close behind, perhaps mid-1960s.

The material I found was not published at that time as it was being kept for use in the planned trial. The trial was never held because both sides were nervous about the outcome, hence the settlement of January 2001. The dispute with the attorney came after the 2002 auction. I had no dealings, direct or indirect, with the later Langbord trials.

I was asked by one of the attorneys to do research on the 33 DE; this was just after the arrests and seizure of the coin. The letters I found were kept confidential and were to be used at the planned trial where I was to be a witness. The trial was announced in December 2000 for January 2001. I called the attorney to find out what was going on and was told that the trial was going ahead as planned and he would call me if there were any questions. I replied that it was obvious that a settlement was underway which was denied. A settlement was then announced just before the trial was to start with the claim that it was a last-minute arrangement. Prior to that the Mint had asked one of our mutual friends (Harry Forman) to find out what I knew so that it could counter my testimony; Harry called to tell me and he thought it was funny. After the auction I was told by one of the defense attorneys that I could not publish what I had found (the Froman letter, for example) as I might be facing a lawsuit. I published anyway, in the Numismatic News noted above. Because of this dispute I was not involved when the Langbords found the 10 extra pieces.

The 1933 Froman letter was discovered in the DC archives in March 1996. It was first published in Numismatic News, issue of October 1, 2002.

A valuable addition to our knowledge of the United States Mint.

I somehow missed this topic earlier. The research work and published material done by Roger Burdette is outstanding. His set of three renaissance books, for example, is a masterpiece of research.

Most of that article, and the December 1985 The Numismatist use the primary sources and then take a leap of conjecture. Please explain “leap of conjecture.”

For use as alloy in the gold and silver coinage.

It may also be of interest to note that the half cents of 1825–1835 were all made from Boulton planchets. The 1831 half cents were from a shipment received in 1825.

In 1830 Mint Director Dr. Samuel Moore changed the way coinage was reported on a calendar-year basis. The annual report for 1830 to 1835 listed the coins struck during the year even if not formally delivered by the chief coiner. This did not affect the gold and silver coinage, which was promptly delivered but copper was another matter. The 1831 half cents were a test run of 2200 pieces using the new style of dies. Proofs were also struck. A large quantity of half cents were melted in 1833 and likely included most or all of the 1831 business strikes. This topic was discussed in the August 2014 issue of Coins Magazine.