Here is an interesting piece of so-called Bryan Money issued in connection with the 1896 presidential campaign of William Jennings Bryan. This variety is one of the most popular issues of Bryan Money and is listed in the Schornstein book on “Bryan Money” and is referenced as Schornstein-353. The obverse features the legends “United Snakes of America” and “In Bryan We Trust” along with an unusual goose/donkey hybrid with “POP” on its body which is a reference to the Populist Party. The reverse has the legend “Free Silver” and the nonsensical denomination of “One Dam.” This example of the 1896 United Snakes of America Bryan One Dam has been graded MS62 by NGC. This is one of the nicest overall examples of this variety that I have seen available. The piece has highly prooflike fields on both sides and a very strong strike which shows the fine details well. There are a few small scratches and hits which account for the relatively low mint state grade, but the condition is much better than what is typically found available. An amazing mint state example of this popular piece of Bryan Money.
Because of the difficulty in capturing the overall look of the coin in a single image, I have also included a short high-definition video of the coin towards the bottom of this listing in an attempt to give you a better idea of what this coin will look like in hand. Please note that you may need to adjust the video quality to 1080p and may need to increase the size of the video to full screen in order to see the coin in maximum detail. |