The other night while cleaning out a hallway desk I came across a box of items I inherited from my paternal grandfather, Raymond Everett Bence (1892-1973). I remember seeing the box on his dresser as a child and was allowed to look but not touch. It contained old watches, some Masonic items, and a Liberty Head $1 coin. I’ve looked at the items several time in the last 40+ years, but never thought much about them. This is the only coin among his belongings. (He collected stamps, not coins.)
Looking at it last night, something new came to mind. The date on the coin is 1853, the birth year of Raymond’s mother, Emma Rowena Macomber (1853-1909). Given its condition, I wonder if it was a baby gift for Emma. Raymond was the only child of her second marriage to Peter Gaskel Bence in 1892. I wonder if the coin was given to Raymond after her death in 1909.