Forgotten Colorado Silver: Joseph Lesher's Defiant Coins

ISBN-13:	9781467135252
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/10/2017
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,156,608
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

At the turn of the last century, miner Joseph Lesher attempted to raise the price of silver by privately minting octagonal "Referendum souvenir medal" coins with values of $1.25 or $1. They were common in Victor, Cripple Creek, Denver and other places in Colorado in the days after William Jennings Bryan fought unsuccessfully for free silver. Surviving an initial dust-up with the Secret Service, Lesher found a loophole to place them in circulation in 1900 and 1901. Today, coin collectors pay more than $1,000 for one. This is the story of Joseph Lesher and his audacious private mint, along with the merchants in the mining towns and elsewhere who supported him.