In other recent coin news, an 1866 silver dollar stolen along with 7,000 other coins from millionaire Willis du Pont’s home in 1967 was turned over by a librarian last week. Coin auction experts examined the coin and determined it was stolen property, apparently to the dismay of the unnamed librarian who received it as collateral for a loan. It is one of only two 1866 silver dollars missing the inscription “In God We Trust” that are believed to exist.
And hang onto those metal detectors. A man in Oxfordshire, England, found a pot of 5,000 Roman coins in a field last April. One of the coins depicts the head of Domitianus, a “mystery emporer” who historians say ruled for merely a few days. A similar coin, found 100 years ago, had been dismissed as a hoax. Now it appears possible that Domitianus declared himself emporer in 271 AD just long enough to have coins made with his image, though his reign faded into obscurity.