In 1951 numismatic authorRichard D. Kenneypublished a trial listing of"Unofficial Coins of theWorld" in The Coin Collector'sJournal, listing apocryphalissues from suchnon-coin-producingentities as Patagoniaand the Republic ofNew Mexico. He wrotemany other excellentnumismatic articles inthe 1950s, includingthe seminal work on"so-called dollars" in1953, and had preparedan expanded "Unofficial Coins" manuscriptbefore his untimelydeath in late 1956.The numismatic firmfor which he workedhonored his expressedwish that the manuscriptbe submitted to The Numismatist,which in 1960 begansoliciting artwork for the articlefrom a wealth of collectors,dealers, numismatic societiesand museums. The first part appearedin the June 1962 issuewith an "Author's Preface," plusan "Editor's Preface" by ElstonG. Bradfield.

Nineteen unofficial issues,some of them in related groups,were included in the first segmentunder the subhead "International,"after which the rest ofthe catalog was published at irregular intervals into 1964.

Today the subject matter isthe nucleus of a large and very popular book UnusualWorld Coins (ANA LibraryCatalog No. C87.B7u 2011), edited byGeorge S. Cuhaj.

Kenney began withthe Eutopia dollar of1886 and the Bickforddollars of 1897.The U.S. talents of1896 were followed byThom as Elder's HenryHudson daalders of1909 and Brian Borucrowns of 1910. TheseU.S. collectibles weresucceeded by the trulyinternational Esperanto spesmilos of 1912and Kenney-13 - themysterious "United Nations 100Dollars 1922."

There was no illustration, justthis cryptic note: "Apparently agold and/or silver League of Nations pattern based upon aplaster cast in the cabinet of theAmerican Numismatic Society,New York, N.Y. Attempts to locatea specimen have thus farproved fruitless."

The U.N. Specimen
The piece apparently remainedunknown to the numismaticworld until February 2016, whena man walked into a coin shopin the Atlanta area with sevenexamples of what later turnedout to be Kenney-13, struck ingold.

The store owner showedone to former ANA GovernorBill Fivaz, who sent pictures of itto authors and U.S. coinage expertsQ. David Bowers, KennethE. Bressett and myself. None ofus were familiar with the piece,so I shared the photos withnoted numismatist David T.Alexander. He suggested lookingin Kenney's works, where Ifound it thanks to the new digitalarchives of The Numismatist.

ANA members can read the complete issue online here:
https://www.money.org/digital-magazines