The discovery of a tiny set of letters hand-engraved on a vintageU.S. silver dollar, and detective work by a sharp-eyed coin specialist, has opened a window intoa uniquely American tragedy - the 1830-1850, when Native Americans of theCherokee nation and other tribes were forcibly relocated from their fertile ancestral homelands tobarren tracts of land west of the Mississippi.

The coin, a draped bust U.S. silver dollar dated 1797, 10 X 6 stars variety, graded FineDetails, graffiti by NGC (6461819-003), is featured in Classical Numismatic Group LLC'sElectronic Auction 520, closing Wednesday, July 20, 2022.

Jeff Rill, numismatist and auctioneer with Lancaster PA-based CNG, was cataloguing thewell-worn dollar when he noticed what looked like old graffiti on both sides of the coin. Rill said.

The graffiti on the obverse read in neat, careful script. Curious, Rillbegan researching known individuals of that name from the early 1800s, when a coin such as thiswould have been in circulation.

He discovered that there was someone of this same name in the historical record - awoman whose bloodline included both Native Americans and American settlers of Europeanstock. This Lucinda Walker, born Lucinda Taylor, was the daughter Chief Richard Fox Taylor ofthe Cherokee Nation and his wife, Susan Taylor, of European ancestry.

Lucinda was born circa 1834 in the Old Cherokee Nation. She married a cousin, JohnOsborn Walker circa 1854. According to the Eastern Cherokee application of her only child,daughter Emily, born 19 November 1855, the family lived in the Tahlequah District (family #259on the Cherokee Drennan Roll) where Lucinda died in 1859 at the age of 25. Her cause of deathat so early an age is not recorded.

Rill said.

On the reverse, below the wings of the eagle, are the letters and The half-sister of Lucinda's father was Nellie McDaniel, who married a white settler, James McDaniel. Rill said.

How the coin came to be engraved with these two names cannot be known for certain,but Rill had a plausible theory: he said. Also, U.S. drapedbust silver dollars, minted 1795-1803, were quite rare and collectible even in the early 1800s.

Lucinda Taylor would have been about 4 years old when her father, Chief Richard FoxTaylor, served as a in the removal of the Cherokee Nation from their home in theMississippi Valley to the Oklahoma territory in the spring through winter of 1838. were tribal leaders chosen to lead roughly 1,000-person detachments of Cherokees on the 770-mile journey, which took more than 100 days to complete. Though born Cherokee, Taylor hadserved as a volunteer guide in the U.S. military under Captain Gideon Morgan in 1814-1815Creek War. He later served as Cherokee delegate to Washington D.C. and was elected AssistantPrincipal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, serving from 1851-1853.

The was a two-decade process, starting with President Andrew Jackson'sIndian Removal Act of 1830, by which more than 60,000 Native Americans of five differentnations were forcibly removed from their homelands in the rich Mississippi Valley to far morebarren lands hundreds of miles to the west.

The coin is part of a larger consignment from the Hendin Family Collection, assembledover decades by Aaron Hendin, MD (1918-1990), father of David Hendin, himself a collector ofancient coins and author of the popular Guide To Biblical Coins series of numismatic books.

The is in CNG Electronic Auction 520, which goes on CNG's popular website, www.cngcoins.com, on Thursday, June 30, and closes threeweeks later, Wednesday, July 20. For further inquiries, contact Jeff Rill at jeff@cngcoins.com.