John J. Ford, Jr. and the "Franklin Hoard"

Description

The most comprehensive examination of a 50 year long controversy which included many of the leading names in numismatics.  The problem was Ford (and his friend Franklin) were marketing gold coins and bars that were never authenticated by anyone other than John J. Ford.
Eric P. Newman challenged the authenticity of the "Proof" 1853 USAOG gold coins in the 1960's, but was shut down by the commercial aspect (meaning there was easy, and large profits being made by the sellers).  These were finally condemned as "Transfer Die Forgeries" in 2008, after the host coin was uncovered.
The history of gold found in the U.S. is traced from 1799, through the 1849 California gold rush, and into the 20th century.  There is a comprehensive section on the spurious "Father Kino" mission bars, along with pictures of assay bars that were offered at auction prior to 1950.  Many modern made bars from the so-called "Franklin Hoard" are clearly imaged in color.
Numerous fake bars and coins are now contained in the National Numismatic Collection at Washington, D.C.  These came from the J.K. Lilly "donation" in 1968.  Read the story and see how these ended up at the Smithsonian.   This is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look, using many documents from Ford's "Personal Hot Correspondence" files.
Hardbound
, and
over 900 pages
.  Numerous
color plates of rare items
.
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