History you can hold in your hands

In case you ever wonder why I'm a sometime numismatist (that's "coin collector" to you lay peoples), check out this article about America's rarest coin, and the history and mystery behind it. This is the stuff that bestsellers are made of (and also, maybe, a fantasy story . . .). You can't hold this particular coin in your hand, but you can purchase modern versions with the same obverse design from the Mint.

A little more coin trivia: The coin discussed in the article was sculpted by Augustus Saint Gaudens, who also created my favorite American coin, the Peace Dollar (see my icon). He is also the artist who artist James Gurney is discussing on his blog today (tip of the hat to jaylake who originally linked to the Gurney piece).