JAB-23 SPRINGFIELD ANTIQUARIANS Brass

28mm - 1 struck

The dies were cut in 1866 and sold to J.W. Kline in 1872. They are not part of the ANS collection and are currently unaccounted for.

The Springfield Antiquarians are presumed to have been nothing more than a group of Bolen's friends that shared a common interest in collecting. In addition to collecting coins and medals, most of the Antiquarians were avid book collectors.

The 3mm thick example pictured is from Bolen's personal collection and is rim engraved "14 struck in Copper". Musante believes this example was part of the 14 total reportedly struck by Bolen in Copper. If correct, there should be one other Brass example rim engraved "1 struck in Brass." I am unaware that such a piece exists. I personally believe the rim engraving was done some time after the pieces were struck and that Bolen simply mismarked his personal Copper and Brass examples. If correct, my hypothesis would mean that this piece is the only Brass JAB-23 in existence. I have never seen or heard of any Kline restrikes in Brass. If they do exist, they are quite rare and would be on thin planchets, per all Kline restrikes.

This piece and several other mismarked examples have lead a number of us to postulate that Bolen was color blind.