By Wesley Millett and Gerald White, authors of book “The Rebel and the Rose“.

In April 1865, the Civil War ended for most Americans. The war, and its various aspects, continues to capture the interest and imagination of many Americans who are fascinated by the battles, leaders, and strategy displayed during that conflict. Mysteries endure, too, including the ultimate disposition of the Confederate treasury.

Much of the mystery was engendered by Union officials, who greatly inflated the value of the Confederacy’s treasury to several million dollars. This was probably done to increase the incentive to Union soldiers combing the villages and roads of the Carolinas and Georgia for the treasury, and for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had fled Richmond. The actual value of the treasury was probably not much more than $500,000.

The trek south of the Confederate government has been well documented in a number of first hand accounts written several years after the war. The authors were primarily participants in the evacuation of Richmond and they included Confederate cabinet officials, army officers, and treasury employees. Many of the accounts were published in the papers of the Southern Historical Society, in an effort to dispel rumors that Davis took the money for himself and his family. One treasury clerk ? in particular, Micajah Clark ? provided a detailed accounting of the disposition of the funds.

An aspect of the treasure that Clark omitted concerned the fate of 39 kegs of Mexican silver dollars. These were coins that the Confederacy received through the sale of cotton to Mexico. The Mexican coins had been transported to Danville, Virginia, and when the Davis party was forced to move further south, primarily by wagon, the more than 9,000 pounds of silver would have considerably slowed down the procession. For this reason, the coins were almost certainly buried in Danville, and evidence suggests, they remain there today. Read Full Article Here

Last Minute Amendment Could Have Shut Down Precious Metals Coin Dealers

ICTA (INDUSTRY COUNCIL FOR TANGIBLE ASSETS) recently helped defeat an 11th hour proposal that would have put precious metals dealers under the jurisdiction of the CFTC which may also have led to federal licensing and further regulation of the industry.

In late April, during Senate consideration of the 2008 farm bill (HR 2419), a section was added to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and amend the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The House Agriculture Committee marked up similar legislation, so the two CFTC bills were both being considered by the joint Senate/House Conference Committee that would recommend the final bill.

A last minute amendment was introduced at the Conference Committee by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) that would have expanded the CFTC’s jurisdiction beyond the futures markets to include the cash markets.

Had this amendment been accepted, it could have radically changed the manner in which the rare coin/precious metals market functions. In addition, the proposed CFTC jurisdiction could have led the way for CFTC licensing and trading restriction requirements would have affected almost every dealer who sells precious metals including not just bars but certain coins as well.

ICTA worked with lobbyists for the Coalition for Equitable Regulation & Taxation (CERT) and others to inform the Conference Committee legislators of the disastrous impact that this amendment would have on the precious metals industry, including creating an unnecessary second layer of oversight by yet another governmental agency (the CFTC), since cash markets are currently overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). (more…)

Dallas Gold & Silver Exchange Cos. Inc., which wholesales, retails and auctions fine watches, jewelry, diamonds, precious metal and rare coin products via traditional and Internet channels, reported triple-digit growth for its first-quarter of 2008.

The Dallas-based company’s income rose 162% to $477,255 this quarter, which ended March 31, compared to $182,415 for the same period last year. Its revenue jumped 222% to $32.7 million versus $10.2 million in first-quarter 2007.

DGSE (AMEX: DGC) affiliates are purchasing scrap jewelry, rare coins and bullion products in record amounts. In the first quarter, DGSE operations purchased more than $17 million, compared to $4.8 million for the same period last year.

Its Euless/Fort Worth operation, which was acquired as Euless Gold & Silver Exchange in the first half of 2007, produced more than $4 million in revenue the first quarter - a 20-year record for DGSE.

The pawn business remains strong, increasing 130% this quarter to $258,242. DGSE has two pawn locations in Dallas.

By ALAN SAYRE

A steamship that sank off the Louisiana coast during an 1846 storm has produced a trove of rare gold coins, including some produced at two, mostly forgotten U.S. mints in the South, coin experts say.

Last year, four Louisiana residents salvaged hundreds of gold coins and thousands of silver coins from the wreckage of the SS New York in about 60 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico, said David Bowers, co-chairman of Stack’s Rare Coins in New York.

“Some of these are in uncirculated or mint condition,” Bowers said, predicting the best could bring $50,000 to $100,000 each at auction.

Of particular interest to coin experts — numismatists — are gold pieces known as quarter eagles and half eagles, which carried face values of $2.50 and $5, respectively, in the days before the United States printed paper currency.

Those coins were struck at mints in New Orleans; Charlotte, N.C.; and Dahlonega, Ga. The Charlotte and Dahlonega mints operated from 1838, when the first significant U.S. gold deposits were found in those areas, until the start of the Civil War in 1861, said Douglas Mudd, curator of the American Numismatic Association’s Money Museum in Denver. Neither mint ever reopened.

The Dahlonega Mint produced 1.38 million gold coins, while 1.2 million were minted in Charlotte. Tens of millions of gold coins were minted in the United States before the federal government confiscated those held by individuals, banks and the U.S. Treasury in 1933 and melted them into gold bars as the country abandoned the gold standard.

Read Full Article Here

Editors Note: NGC has also posted an article entitled  “NCS Conserves Coins Recovered from the Steamship New York” with more details as to the type of coins found on the SS NewYork and the NSC conservation and NGC encapsulation.