It is a Ron Landis / Joe Rust / Gallery Mint Museum piece struck for and at the Sixth Annual Liberty Dollar Fair in Evansville, Indiana which was also the grand opening of the Liberty Dollar Fulfillment Center. The event was attended by Bernard Von Nothaus and Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Candidate for President of the United States.
There is a write up on Verne Walrafen's GMMNut website by Mike Ellis (a member of Gallery Mint Museum at the time) and the other side of the insert has the Gallery Mint Museum stamp on it. The reverse die was specially made for the Liberty Dollar event by Ron Landis. It says "SIXTH ANNIVERSARY FAIR - LIBERTY DOLLAR 2004." The "E" looks like it could be a "mintmark" indicating Evansville since these were struck there, onsite. The obverse die, which says "EST 1998", was shared with their Community First Bank tokens. Liberty Dollar Encyclopedia indicates 200 pewter pieces were struck and GMMNut indicates 25 struck silver pieces were struck (including 5 trial strikes). This piece is one of the 5 trial strikes based on the insert but I'm not sure how to tell the difference from a regular silver specimen.
This is also written up on the Liberty Dollar Encyclopedia and mentions that while not struck by NORFED, it is collected with the Liberty Dollar series.
Liberty Dollar Fair (GMMNut):
http://www.gmmnut.com/gmm/gmm79.html#libertyLiberty Dollar Fair (Dollar Encyclopedia):
https://sites.google.com/site/libertydollarencyclopedia/the-pewter-pieceCommunity First Bank (GMMNut):
http://www.gmmnut.com/gmm/gmm78.html#bankHere's the post from Mike Ellis on GMMNut:
Libertarian For President
Other than the Gallery Mint's involvement in the new golden dollar coin we do not involve ourselves in mainstream politics. However, during the first weekend of October, Joe Rust, president and, Ron Landis, vice-president; both co-owners of the Gallery Mint Museum, made a memorable appearance as both the Gallery Mint Museum and the Doe Brothers at the Sixth Annual Liberty Dollar Fair in Evansville, Indiana. During the day they ran the mini-mint striking pewter specimens (example shown is one of 25 silver off metal specimens struck, 5 of which are trial strikes) of this beautiful mini-mint token using the same obverse die used on the Community First Bank tokens. The reverse is an original design by Ron Landis in fairly high relief.
In the evening the two appeared as the infamous Doe Brothers entertaining banquet attendees including Bernard Von Nothaus, originator of the Liberty Dollar Program; and Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Candidate for President of the United States. The Gallery Mint Museum does not endorse Mr. Badnarik; he just happened to be the keynote speaker at the banquet. Heck, even now we really don't know anything about the man except that he is an educator and his running mate, Richard Campagna, is an attorney. Still, Ron and Joe think it was neat to entertain for a Presidential candidate.
And, I, Mike Ellis, now wish I had gone. No, not because I feel like I missed anything; rather, because I probably would not be nursing a head with 12 staples in it, a severely sprained neck and a totally separated shoulder that I acquired about the same time the Doe Brothers were wrapping it up in Indiana! (Don't worry folks. It was not an automobile accident. I survived my first ambulance ride though and am on the road to recovery.) Michael Ellis... Sunday, October 17, 2004 3:10PM
From the Liberty Dollar Encyclopedia, along with their photo below for reference since it has the reverse as well.
The Pewter Piece
This piece is about the size of a US nickel. It was minted with a hand press at the grand opening of the Liberty Dollar Fulfillment Center in Evansville, Indiana during the sixth anniversary celebration in October of 2004. It was not minted by NORFED, but the dies may have been supplied by them. A gentleman who owned the hand operated press made them. I know because I was there. There may have been 200 or so people who attended the celebration, but I'm sure all of them did not purchase these pieces. There were reportedly 200 pieces made.
This piece is probably second only to the Evansville one ounce Silver Liberty in rarity. It's not really a Liberty Dollar, but it is a very collectible piece of NORFED memorabilia. The 'E' on it may be the mintmark of the gentleman who made it. He was in the business of making specialty medallions for various customers and was there to demonstrate rudimentary minting techniques for visitors. I imagine the 'Mercury Dime' obverse design was made from a stock die the gentleman had in inventory, which was modified to show the 'est in 1998' for the Liberty Dollar commemorative. That would explain why the 'In God We Trust' logo was different from the 'Trust In God' logo found on the Liberty Dollars. The reverse die was obviously custom made for the commemorative.
The highest known sale price for this item was $700 in a private sale on 7/9/2016.
