Bill Eckberg writes:

Julia Casey writes:

On a related note Bob Leonard writes:

Regarding the word "Unbekannt" below the Continental Dollar entry, Ralf Böpple wrote:

Herman Blanton agrees.He writes:

Regarding Martin Purdy's translation of "geschlagen", Alan Luedeking writes:

Thomas Lovelace writes:

The Origin of the Continental Dollar: Historically Curious and Functionally Irrelevant
Craig Sholley

I found the musings on the Continental Dollar in the past couple issues of The E-Sylum quiteinteresting, especially Julia Casey's discovery of a listing in a German catalog and the readerresponses. However, it suddenly dawned on me that the whole controversy over their origin is,aside from just knowing, actually quite irrelevant.

Auction records and dealer listings show that these pieces have been avidly collected in theU.S. for over 160 years. Furthermore, as the Sarah Sophia Banks collection and Germancatalogs clearly show, they were collected as soon as they appeared.

As to more modern references, the Continental Dollars have been listed in the "Red Book" foras long as I can recall. The grading services certify them and list them in the "registry sets."None of that is going to change even if someone finds irrefutable proof they were made inEurope (for the record, that's what I believe, which is probably even more irrelevant than theevidence either way).

A casual review of the "Red Book" and the grading services' web sites shows why. All of thosesources list numerous non-U.S. coins as part of the U.S. series. For example, in the Post-Colonial section of the Red Book, we find a number of English "Conder" tokens including the so-called "Kentucky" token (which was definitely not struck in Kentucky or anywhere else in theU.S.), the "Franklin Press" token, and the Talbot, Alum, and Lee token. I seriously doubt thatanyone reading an edge inscription such as "Payable At Liverpool" thinks this means Liverpool,PA.

Then we have numerous Washington pieces having no denomination and known to have beenstruck in England, most likely as commemorative tokens. While some may have been used ascoins, most were simply keepsakes.

I could go on, but I think everyone gets the point by now - there are numerous non-U.S.medallions and tokens collected as part of the U.S. coin series simply because they have U.S.themed devices. The Continental Dollar is no different and should be treated no differently.

For those who may feel the Continental Dollar should be "de-listed," that is a practicalimpossibility at this point. There is simply too much precedence to do so. Further, if this pieceis to be "de-listed" because it is not of U.S. origin, then all non-U.S. pieces need to be de-listed.To do otherwise would be manifestly unfair and prejudicial against this one piece and those whochoose to collect them.

That is obviously not going to happen. Enjoy the historical discussion and be "pro" or "con" asyou choose. But please realize it is very unlikely to have any practical effect on the collectabilityof these pieces. That die was cast over two centuries ago.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
KING GEORGE III STATUE PART FOUND(https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n45a28.html)
NEW CONTINENTAL DOLLAR EVIDENCE EMERGES(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n13a07.html)
MORE ON THE 1785 CONTINENTAL DOLLAR SALE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n13a08.html)